Stagecoaches

So you're looking at that Stagecoach blog post down below and you're probably wondering how sad it is you never got to experience riding a stagecoach. Either that, or you're wondering what's so special about them to the point that a movie is named after them. Well, let's learn about these magical stage transportation apparatuses called stagecoaches....

Stagecoaches started transporting passengers in New England in 1744, followed by NY and Philly in 1756. By 1829, Boston was the hub of 77 stagecoach lines, and then 106 in 1832.

One of the major stagecoach lines was Wells Fargo. Yeah, they actually owned real
stagecoaches and used them not just for advertising purposes. In 1857, Wells
Fargo joined
other companies to form the Overland Mail Company. It's goal: transport mail from St Louis to SF.
It took 25 days to reach San Francisco from St. Louis. In 1861, the Civil War forced the company to take a route across the Great Plains, Rocky Mountains, the Great basin, and over the Sierra.

In 1866, Wells Fargo became the largest stagecoach empire in the world. But it was short-lived, as the railroads were finished in 1869.

So what was it like to ride in a stagecoach? Well, it was a lot worse than an airplane (even by today's standards). Most coaches had three bench seats with three abreast squeezed into a space of 15 inches each. Passengers road with their bags in their laps and sometimes mail pouches beneath their feet. Some travelers suffered from motion sickness due to the movement of the stagecoach. And then, most coaches traveled nonstop for 22 days, through dust, sand, night, day, heat, and cold conditions. Passengers usually had poor food, no rest, and brief stops at stations to change drivers. If a passenger decided to take a rest break, they could be stuck at their stop for a week, or even longer if the next stage had no available seats. Passengers also walked sometimes to relieve the tired drivers, to lighten the coach, and push the coaches up hills.

Wells Fargo even made rules that each stagecoach passenger had to follow since they were stuck in such a small cramped place:

• Abstinence from liquor is requested, but if you must drink share the bottle. To do otherwise makes you appear selfish and unneighborly.

• If ladies are present, gentlemen are urged to forgo smoking cigars and pipes as the odor of same is repugnant to the gentler sex. Chewing tobacco is permitted, but spit with the wind, not against it.
• Gentlemen must refrain from the use of rough language in the presence of ladies and children.
• Buffalo robes are provided for your comfort in cold weather. Hogging robes will not be tolerated and the offender will be made to ride with the driver.
• Don't snore loudly while sleeping or use your fellow passenger's shoulder for a pillow; he or she may not understand and friction may result.
• Firearms may be kept on your person for use in emergencies. Do not fire them for pleasure or shoot at wild animals as the sound riles the horses.
• In the event of runaway horses remain calm. Leaping from the coach in panic will leave you injured, at the mercy of the elements, hostile Indians and hungry coyotes.
• Forbidden topics of conversation are: stagecoach robberies and Indian uprisings.
• Gents guilty of unchivalrous behavior toward lady passengers will be put off the stage. It's a long walk back. A word to the wise is sufficient.

Stagecoaches often faced the risk of robberies by nefarious persons, and attacks from Indians as well, just like what happens in the movie Stagecoach.

Now do you want to ride a stagecoach over an airplane? I thought so.



Ryan Himel