When researching historical firsts in the old western United States, the early stagecoach lines is a subject that often emerges. carrying the mail to the western outposts of civilization was a pretty important task. It's both interesting and entertaining to read about some of the observations from the people who actually rode these Concord coaches over the 2,000 plus mile journey. The year 1858 was very special. It was the year that saw the beginning of the Butterfield Overland Stage Line from St' Louis Missouri to San Francisco California. This was a key historic event in the history of the United States as well as the history of overland transportation in general. Similar to other new means of transportation, the start was typically with a government mail contract. With the California Gold Rush in progress and with the state itself joining the Union in 1850, communication with the west coast was more important than ever. Remember, this was an era before the transcontinental railroad and before the telegraph lines to California. As an example, in the 1850's it generally took about 45 days for a letter to make it's way from San Francisco to New York. The route for that letter would have been a steamer from San Francisco to Panama and then through the jungles of Panama to another steamer on the eastern side of the Isthmus. Quite a journey.
Transporting Mail to the West
The Butterfield Stage route from St Louis would shorten the time somewhat. What is generally described as a twenty-five day trek from St' Louis to San Francisco was along what was called the southern route. The route went through Arkansas, Texas, present day New Mexico and Arizona into the San Diego area and then northward to San Francisco. To say the journey was adventuresome would be an understatement. All research on the subject I have done pretty much points to the mail itself as being the top priority. After all, the government mail contract was the financial seed to begin the stage line in the first place. Carrying passengers along the route was important but somehow secondary. The Butterfield Overland Stage Line began operation in 1858. The first westbound stage made it to Springfield September 17, 1858, some three hours ahead of schedule. The first eastbound stage arrived in Springfield on October 22, 1858 That stage was carrying five passengers, along with mail, freight, and express parcels.
What Was it Like for the Overland Traveler?
There are interesting stories from the people who rode the Bufterfield Stage route and their observations are enlightening. Many of these journey's were anything but boring. In fact, the Butterfield Stage Line ran through Arizona during the long Apache Wars. Many of it's stages were attacked near the Dragoon Mountains not far north of Tombstone Arizona where Cochise had his stronghold. Riding through Arizona in the 1860's and 1870's would be a true adventure. The first question you might ask is: What should I bring along? A reporter for the San Francisco Evening Bulletin who rode the route in 1858 was quoted in his article "All the traveler needed to render himself comfortable is a pair of blankets, a revolver or knife (just as he fancies), an overcoat, some wine to mix with the water (which is not of the sweeetest quality) and three or four dollars worth of provisions". he went on to say that "Arms are not furnished the passengers by the Company". Keep in mind that it was often that riders were forced to dislodge from the stage and walk along side when it became mired down in sandy stretches.
Accounts from Another Journalist
Another journalist by the name Waterman L. Ormsby rode with the first Butterfield Stage heading west on September 16, 1858. Ormsby, a 23-year-old reporter for the New York Herald, was on this historic first run. Ormsby reported that mules were used to pull the stage coaches over the frontier portions of the route because, to Indians, the mules were considered less valuable than horses as property. Ormsby goes on to say that one team of mules had been trained to come to feed at the sound of a large gong. The stage driver, or sometimes referred to as a "whip", planned to use the gong to call the mules back in case the Indians managed to steal them. Ormsby described that it took about 30 minutes to harness each mule and he was quoted as saying... "By the time a mule was caught and harnessed, often nearly choked to death, he was almost always nearly tired out before his work had commenced." If you thought the seating arrangement inside the Concord coach was a benefit, here is what it looked like. Passengers rode three abreast. There were two back rows facing forward and a front row facing backwards. Your luggage would sometimes be on your lap and U.S. Mail would likely be under your seat. This arrangement might make your seat on today's jetliner seem pretty roomy. The stagecoach ran day and night with only short stops at stations for what most described as fairly poor food. Also, realize that a passenger essentially had about three times to bathe while on the Butterfield route. While there were plenty of Butterfield stations not many of them had the necessary facilities. Sleeping was another challenge. passengers slept in the Concord coach while it was on it's bumpy ride. It's been reported that it took most passengers about a week to become accustomed to sleeping while traveling. Sleep during the first week was near impossible but after getting a bit acclimated to the ride things got a lot better. Here is a description of the sleeping situation as described by an English passenger on the eastbound Butterfield route in 1860. The passenger was quoted describing the posture necessary to sleep in a moving stagecoach... "sometimes slinging our feet by loops from the top of the wagon, or letting them hang over the sides between the wheels... and not seldom nodding for hours together in attitudes grotesque and diverse."
The Account from Mark Twain
As most people know, Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) wrote quite extensively about his experiences. One of these missives regarded his stagecoach travel west to Virginia City, Nevada where he would become a journalist for the Nevada Territory's first publication. Mark Twain (who supposedly adopted this name while in Nevada) wrote a story titled "Roughing It". This is his account of what he experienced along his stagecoach ride west. While his journey was not along the Butterfield Overland Mail route (the Butterfield route was abandoned during the Civil War because of the heavy Confederate presence in the southwest), it is, as most of his writings were, quite insightful. The work was written between 1870-71 and recounts his experiences in Nevada during the early 1860's. Below is a quote from Chapter XIII of "Roughing It" which pretty fairly describes the experience of traveling the stage through the dry and hot desert area on the Overland Route. An excerpt is as follows... The mules, under violent swearing, coaxing and whip-cracking, would make at stated intervals a "spurt," and drag the coach a hundred or may be two hundred yards, stirring up a billowy cloud of dust that rolled back, enveloping the vehicle to the wheel-tops or higher, and making it seem afloat in a fog. Then a rest followed, with the usual sneezing and bit- champing. Then another "spurt" of a hundred yards and another rest at the end of it. All day long we kept this up, without water for the mules and without ever changing the team. At least we kept it up ten hours, which, I take it, is a day, and a pretty honest one, in an alkali desert. It was from four in the morning till two in the afternoon. And it was so hot! and so close! and our water canteens went dry in the middle of the day and we got so thirsty! It was so stupid and tiresome and dull! and the tedious hours did lag and drag and limp along with such a cruel deliberation! It was so trying to give one's watch a good long undisturbed spell and then take it out and find that it had been fooling away the time and not trying to get ahead any! The alkali dust cut through our lips, it persecuted our eyes, it ate through the delicate membranes and made our noses bleed and kept them bleeding--and truly and seriously the romance all faded far away and disappeared, and left the desert trip nothing but a harsh reality--a thirsty, sweltering, longing, hateful reality!
The Journey in Retrospect
The journey on an old west stagecoach certainly sounds a bit traumatic when compared to today's modern travel. In the 21st century we might become agitated or uncomfortable when our plane or train runs a little behind schedule. We might be somewhat uncomfortable sitting on the airport tarmac for some time or squeezing into a jetliners typically narrow seat. Obviously, when compared to the accounts mentioned above, these are mere minor difficulties and inconveniences. As rough and primitive as stagecoach travel was, at the time it was considered quite a leap forward. The Concord coaches were actually designed with an innovative strap suspension system but this offered little comfort considering the condition of the trails.The transcontinental railroad had not been completed until the late 1860's and compared to traveling alone by wagon over the Oregon Trail, the stagecoach was a welcomed new convenience. It was only after the transcontinental railroad was completed that stagecoach travel declined, although rail lines were not everywhere and stagecoach service still remained quite important. The relative comfort by traveling over the rails was of course a big leap over the stages. The last stagecoach operations reportedly lasted to about 1913 in Arizona. Eventually, the railroads expanded even more, omnibuses which were larger than a Concord stagecoach and the newly developed urban electric streetcars pushed the stagecoach out of commercial existence. The next you're caught in a bothersome modern travel delays you might gain some comfort by realizing what the old west stagecoach travelers had to endure.
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Peter Uzelac is a history researcher and writer. He can be contacted at peterstripblog@aol.com.
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