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Show . THE OLD CONCOKDmmm STAGE eQAeHg3iis V . . , m A . .?K(Hf llf A STAOH STATION OF W5WENGiLAND'3 CARRYING THE MAIL, A0.RO53 THE PLftIN3 " 3 5 TJTa JIVAa By ELMO SCOTT WATSON V H (.V lPr H S T.. , .iHB old stage conch days In this Ok f f 11 V T$P - fTH country are long since gone, but In t V .-f h.i-f?j ,5--,f'1 Y 1 many places throughout the United f ' , t ' x - 2SSS. f States relics of that ronmntic era .- 5 i 4yr!rt -ST A ' . , In our history are still preserved J-f ? ' V I T K T ill! V, '.W ,, " h o as object lemons to us American, . Hf I UAl Hi Crr'V't ' ' who Ue in the automobile and air- fl&4L JU hW Mil IhMW UA'-i-Aik ! J plane age of the hardships endured lff) Wiff Vfl K , W SPSI l J J by our pioneer ancestors in their fcw-'" f'Ll ' DSSf W''7 4 journeys through the wilderness. v.l s fJAff J 'tlj f jf J'f h Perhaps the most familiar one of these Is i the weather-beaten an,l battle-scarred old stage JU WlMl ltT'tX itW$ coach which stands on the lawn near the mu- - , 'B , J jSep 1 Ati'.:''A A X "' ? ti seum at Mammoth Hot Spring In Yellowstone ft rSl5' 'Afi tytl&SUl tMt? National park. This old Rocky Mountain mail ! S IV - V tfHTTV ft LW-rfi Jj? 1 coach, the first in Montana, once ran between V sXV L iMcS "jXlj fKT? Ill i Helena and Bozeman and at one time or anoth- ti' N J Vf ZZ - ' - $ -S''' ' JT,4 er carried such distinguished passengers as Gen. v- 'Vs-s t"- V 'T ? i i '2-' T James A. Garfield (before he was President), " IT f f T ' '' O 4 President Chester A. Arthur, the first I'resl- ' " dent to visit Yellowstone park (in 1SS3) and VVO -r- """ ""y L , General Sherman, during his inspection trip TSo AN" OLD STAGE COACH ATA Into Montana in 1S77. xC 4'A CAL,lFOK.NTlA. TIESTA. Altliough the paint is scaling off and the CL ' ' curtainless windows stare sadly at the passer- lr?5c J them, and we might have been pitched head-by, head-by, there is a certain pride about this old relic As?-s .jtW lonS down a precipice of 1,000 feet; where of the early days and well there might be. With IWfnh fcffi&tTu't 1 5?Pv a11 the concern that could have been plfced General Sherman aboard and a "he-man" skin- SfST ' 3Snfa,llg ILk up afterward would not have been wortti two ner in control of the six horses that provided ISSS9iOii: ' ' 'Ijjsv-t.'" bite per bushel." the power, the distance between Fort Ellis and irBY-?-'-- jMCi Mark Twain, who was supposed to have Helena, Mont., 108 miles, was once negotiated XWfXTTVtWvi authored the Monk anecdote, declared that h in tho record time of eight 'hours by this coach. Wt''fMtt(r Si had heard 11 either 861 or 862 times In sli There were frequent changes of horses but KM-uy W years, but that It never had occurred, and was P. B. Clark, proprietor of the stage company, YjSgjg. gy IS'?' a Poor thing anyhow. Joe Goodman, edltoi drove the entire distance. EW of the Virginia City Enterprise, was going A year or so ago another of these old vehl- S5j2Si$iv' East In 1G9- Mnk's parting words to him cles attracted nationwide attention through the T1" were: "You tell Horace Greeley I want to following press dispatch from Washington : NTT tT" come East, and ask him to send me a pass." Two of the country's most widely known ''y'-y One of the first acquaintances Goodman ran comedians, Will Rogers and Fred Stone, have AJ -A-arrr7w0. across In New York was the editor. "Mr. Dresented the dignified Smithsonian institu- A11 1AtlB l'-"- Greeley, I have a message for you from Hank By ELMO SCOTT WATSON m HE old stage conch days in this f country are long since gone, but In many places throughout the United States relics of that ronmntic era In our history are still preserved as object lessons to us Americans who live in the autoniobllo and air-jr' air-jr' plane age of the hardships endured V, J by our pioneer ancestors in their 4 journeys through the wilderness. Perhaps the most familiar one of these Is the weather-beaten and battle-scarred old stage coach which stands on the lawn near the museum mu-seum at Mammoth Hot Springs In Yellowstone National park. This old Rocky Mountain mail coach, the first in Montana, once ran between Helena and Bozeman and at one time or another anoth-er carried such distinguished passengers as Gen. James A. Garfield (before he was President), President Chester A. Arthur, the first President Presi-dent to visit Yellowstone park (in 1SS3) and General Sherman, during his inspection trip into Montana in 1S77. Altliough the paint is scaling off and the curtainless windows stare sadly at the passerby, passer-by, there is a certain pride about this old relic of the early days and well there might be. With General Sherman aboard and a "he-man" skinner skin-ner in control of the six horses that provided the power, the distance between Fort Ellis and Helena, Mont., 108 miles, was once negotiated in tho record time of eight hours by this coach. There were frequent changes of horses but P. B. Clark, proprietor of the stage company, drove the entire distance. A year or so ago another of these old vehicles vehi-cles attracted nationwide attention through the following press dispatch from Washington : Two of the country's most widely known comedians, Will Rogers and Fred Stone, have presented the dignified Smithsonian institution institu-tion something for which it has long been searching a rare old Concord stage coach built in 1S25. It has arrived at the museum after Journeying Jour-neying from San Francisco to New York by way of the Panama canal on an army transport, trans-port, thence by boat down the coast and up the Potomac. Under orders of the quartermaster general, gen-eral, the creaking old relic, with paint peeling peel-ing off tie wheels and red leather upholstery badly worn, was handled as carefully as though it were a jewel. It came uncrated and was rolled proudly through the streets of the Capital to its final august abode. For some time the arts and industries section sec-tion of the Smithsonian institution has been hunting for a Concord coach. Very few of these early vehicles are left as most went to pieces from hard use. About a year ago museum officials saw a picturesque coach which was the property of Fred Stone. They asked Stone later to give the coach to the museum. He replied that It had been given his friend Will Rogers and was in Beverly Hills, Calif. The Smithsonian institution began writing and wiring Rogers. A month ago the comedian com-edian briefly stated through his secretary that the high old carriage which once sheltered ' hoop skirts and poke bonnets, was theirs. Lest the treasure slip from them the museum officials promptly dispatched a bill of lading with Instructions to load the coach on an army transport with all speed. Now they are trying to get from Stone or Rogers a history of the relic, but so far have had to be content with the small brass plate attached to the coach and inscribed : "G. Gerald, Ger-ald, Blacksmith, Concord, 1825." The coach is of the type used to carry passengers over the national highways in early days. Its railed top is reminiscent of the armed guardsmen who perched above the passengers on the lookout for robbers in the then Wild West. It now takes its place beside Colonel Lindbergh's Lind-bergh's famous plane, "We" and a "hobby horse" presented by Buster Keaton. The latter lat-ter is a quaint mode of early transportation somewhat resembling a modern kiddie car and propelled by the feet. At about the same time another old stage coach was featured In a press dispatch from Las Animas, Colo., as follows: One of the famous stage coaches of the Southwest has been sold to pay a storage bill. The old coach which once operated between Leavenworth and Denver and whose passengers passen-gers include Horace Greeley, President Grant and other national personages, was sold at sheriffs sale for $4,500 to E. L. Elder. This Is Just another chapter in Its Interesting history. his-tory. Years ago the coach was purchased by the Bent County Fair association. When the annual an-nual celebration was discontinued the old vehicle was stored In the barn on the L. G. Kurtz farm. A few years ago the coach was used In a celebration and then was parked backed of Elder's garage. Later he cleaned the coach and kept it In the store room. According to prairie tradition it is the coach used by Mr. Greeley in 1859. It Is known as .the Greeley coach. The old coach was built In Concord, N. H. In spite of Its abuse the old vehicle Is sturdy and much of Its equipment equip-ment is serviceable. The trip from the Mis-1 Mis-1 sour! river to Denver required six days and nights and horses were changed every 12 hours. The old stage at one time was operated by Barlow & Sanderson. This was In the early '60s. Spottswood & McClelland were the next owners of the vehicle. In the early 70s, S. W. Nott purchased the old conveyance and used them, and we might have been pitched headlong head-long down a precipice of 1,000 feet; where all the concern that could have been plfced up afterward would not have been wortli two bits per bushel." Mark Twain, who was supposed to have authored the Monk anecdote, declared that h had heard It either 861 or 862 times In sli years, but that It never had occurred, and was a poor thing anyhow. Joe Goodman, edltoi of the Virginia City Enterprise, was going East in 1S69. Monk's parting words to him were: "You tell Horace Greeley I want to come East, and ask him to send me a pass." One of the first acquaintances Goodman ran across In New York was the editor. "Mr. Greeley, I have a message for you from Hank Monk " he began Innocently. Greeley glared. "That scoundrel !" he broke in. "He has done me more Injury than any other man In America." And that was that Although we commonly think of the stage coach as a vehicle of the trans-MIssissippl fron tier, the old Concord coach, the use of which became so general on all the stage lines of the West that no other coach ever supplanted it, was a New England product. It was made by the Abbott-Downing company of Concord, N. EL, a firm that had its beginnings In a wheelwright business, founded by Lewis Browning In 1813. Back In Colonial days coaches at first were imported from England. Coach building had become be-come an accepted English tradition in the Eighteenth Eight-eenth century, and the few colonial coach builders build-ers had served their apprenticeships In the old country. The close of the Revolution brought independence independ-ence to this country not only in political, but in Industrial domains. This was evident In the development of transportation. The fine English Eng-lish coach was not well adapted to the rough J and often precipitous roads of the . United States. j In such states as Vermont, with her Green mountains, and In New Hampshire, with her White mountains, once one colony, the demand grew for a vehicle which would be as safe and comfortable as possible on the steepest and rockiest grades. The coach developed early in the last century by the Abbotts of Concord met this want. The body of the coach was built of stout white oak, braced with iron bands. It was suspended sus-pended upon two leather thoroughbraces extending ex-tending lengthwise of the coach and attached at each end to a standard protruding up from the axle. These thoroughbraces were made of straps of leather placed on top of each bther to a thickness of about three inches. This leather leath-er swing wras used in the absence of steel springs to absorb the jars, and it permitted the coach to rock slightly forward and back. Behind Be-hind the body was the triangular "boot" for mail, express or baggage, and at the front, under the driver's seat, was another leather compartment (the front "boot") for the carriage car-riage of similar articles. The coach had three inside seats, capable of holding nine passengers. The front seat faced backward, and the middle one was often a mere bench-shaped contrivance that could be removed when the floor of the coach was needed for mail or express. There was room for another an-other passenger (sometimes still another was squeezed In) on the box with the driver and the messenger; and on some of the coaches a further furth-er seat was set up above and behind the driver, capable of holding three passengers. An occasional occas-ional three-passenger seat at the rear of the top was not unknown; and on such a stage 17 passengers might be found. There was frequent crowding, especially when one or more of the passengers happened to be of unusual girth. Raphael Pumpelly. who traveled trav-eled over the Butterfleld route from Tipton, Mo., to Tucson, Ariz.. In what was presumably a Concord coach, gives us this picture: "The coach was fitted with three seats, and these were occupied by nine passengers. As the occupants of the front and middle seats faced each other, It was necessary for these six people to Interlock their knees; and there being room Inside for only 10 of the 12 legs, outside of the coach was graced by a foot, now dangling near the wheel, now trying in vain to find a place of support. An unusually heavy mail In the boot, by weighing down the rear, kept those of us who were on the front seat constantly bent forward, thus, by taking away all support from our backs, rendering rest at all times ont of the question." ( by Western Newspaper Union.) it on a stage line out of Denver. About the time of the excitement In Deadwood the Greeley Gree-ley coach went into service on a route to Elkhorn. In 1S73 bandits held up the stage, riddled it with bullets and killed three passengers. The driver, Jack Quinn, escaped with the mail and his exploit Is mountain country history. his-tory. The bullet holes are visible in the old rounded body. Nobody knows when the old stage made its first overland trip from Leavenworth. At the time of the Civil war it was in service between be-tween the river and Denver. Previous to that, it went over the Santa Fe trail and was no stranger in Santa Fe. Many buffalo were shot from its hurricane deck, for It served as the original "rubber neck" wagon In the Southwest, South-west, when the tourists from the East went to sample the thrills In the wide open spaces. Mention of Horace Greeley In connection with a stage coach recalls the classic story of Hank Monk, perhaps the most famous of all western stage coach drivers. Monk was the driver of the coach In which the famous editor once rode from Carson City, Nev., over the Sierras to Placerville, Calif., The story of that famous trip is told by Wesley Stout as follows: Uncle Horace was the most generous of men with advice. Thousands of readers held their breath until he gave them the signal to exhale ; and If governments blundered or the rainfall was excessive, it was not for lack of Uncle Horace's omniscient counsel. Accustomed Accus-tomed to cosmic affairs, Greeley saw In Monk only one more Jehu smelling of horses. Leaning out the window and peering over his steel spectacles, the editor informed the driver that he expected to be in Placerville on the dot, having promised to speak briefly there before going on to Sacramento, and wishing to catch the connecting coach. "Yes, sir!" said Monk blandly, and started with a lurch which upset all. The early miles were upgrade and the pace moderate, but once Monk topped the Sierras, he opened the throttle. The normal gait down this alpine corkscrew was as breath-taking as a shoot-the-chutes; what this must have been is better bet-ter left to the imagination. Greeley made three attempts to get his head out the window win-dow again and was thrown for a loss each time. On the fourth down, he succeeded and, his wreath of white chin whiskers bristling with anger, he shrieked a command to slow down. "Keep your seat, Horace," Monk called back. "I'll get you there on time." He did. This is the story, at any rate, still told as gospel. An admiring populace presented pre-sented Monk with a heavy gold watch upon which was inscribed "Keep your seat, Horace," and thereafter Hank was the commodore of the fleet. For fifty years after, any far western west-ern impatience was as likely as not to be squelched with this quotation. Greeley had ample time to advise the public of Placerville from the veranda of the Cary house. The name of Monk did not appear in this speech or in Greeley's book, but the latter does refer to the ride: "Yet along this mere shelf, with hardly a place to each mile where two meeting wagons can pass" Greeley Is writing as of 1859 "the mail stage was driven at the rate of ten miles an hour In one Instance eleven or Just as fast as four wild horses could draw IL Our driver was, of course, skillful, but had he met a wagon suddenly sud-denly on rounding one of the sharp points we were constantly passing, a fearful crash was unavoidable. Had his horses seen fit to run away as they did once on the nnhooking of a trace, but at a place where he had room to rein them In out of the road on the upper side I know that he could not have held |