The Stagecoach

Those stylish, elegant coaches of yesteryear are so nostalgic, romantic, cozy and quaint. Or perhaps it’s our imagination that makes them so appealing. 

A couple of weeks ago, my husband and I decided to go ‘up north’ to check on our property. It’s about 300 miles, and we thought little about traveling that far and back in a couple of days. It takes about six hours to get there, including stopping to eat, etc.  However, for the characters in my books, it would have been a much more extensive journey. Back then, trains mainly traveled east and west, therefore, any north/south travel was completed by stage. Depending upon how often they stopped, the weather and terrain, stage coaches took between 8-14 hours to travel fifty miles.

The term Stagecoach came about because of the ‘coaches’ that carried passengers along a route in ‘stages’. Stagecoaches could be anything from buckboard wagons to elaborate ‘coaches.’ As long as they were used for public transportation and ran a regularly scheduled route, they were considered stagecoaches. Depending on the route, the number of regular passengers, the weather, and the distance, the coaches would vary, as would the number of horses or mules. Four was the usual number, but six-team coaches were not uncommon, especially for the larger, ‘overland’ stages, and the smaller, shorter coaches and routes were usually pulled by two horses. The average speed was five to twelve miles and hour.

Despite close quarters, long, bumpy and dusty roads, and threats of Indian or outlaw attacks, stagecoaches flourished and were widely used, even after the railroads crossed the nation.  The term stationwagon came about when long wagons boasting three wide bench seats came into service for the specific role of carrying passengers to and from railroad stations.      

In most vehicles, passengers were provided an average of 15 inches each, and sat with their knees dovetailed with the traveler across from them, and depending on other cargo the stage was carrying, passengers often had to hold their luggage on their laps. Etiquette, and/or, passenger behavior was strictly enforced. Wells Fargo had this list of rules posted:

·  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 forego 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.

Fares varied, not only due to distance, but class as well.

First class meant you rode all the way.

Second class meant you had to walk at bad places along the road.

Third class meant you had to push the coach when needed, especially on hilly terrain.

Depending on the schedule, some stagecoaches would travel all night, stopping only for fresh horses and quick meals. When an overnight stay was included, the coach often arrived around midnight, and left again by six the following morning. Passengers were encouraged to pack food provisions and they were also told not to grease their hair before traveling because dust would stick to it.

  

Stagecoaches came to an end around 1915, when motor buses took the place of the horse-drawn coaches.

I’ve ridden in a few ‘tourist’ stagecoaches, and the short rides were fun, but I must admit I prefer modern transportation options. In the story I’m writing right now, the heroine travels over 300 miles via stage from Texas to Kansas with her three-year-old niece. The journey took a week for them to complete.

That story won’t be released until 2018, but my 30^th book with Harlequin was released April 1^st.

Reunited with the cowboy! 

Long ago, orphans Bridgette Banks and Garth McCain made a promise to stay together. But it's been years since they were parted, and Bridgette's almost given up hope! So when Garth's cattle trail passes her town, she won't let him leave her behind again…

Sparks fly as they're reunited—especially when the cowboy catches Bridgette telling everyone she's his bride! Faced with a past he thought he'd lost forever, Garth realizes this impulsive beauty might be the future he never thought he deserved.

Getting Places

"I call shotgun!"
By  Alison Bruce

As a single mother of two, I hear this phrase every time we head for the car. Now that they are both old enough to sit up front, I have the job of Solomon making sure that each gets they're turn in the choice spot. Since I'm also a history buff and author, I also know that drivers for centuries have had the same task.

The best seat on the coach is beside the driver. That and other useful advice was attributed to the Omaha Herald, 1877. Other advice includes:

• Never ride in cold weather with tight boots or shoes, nor close-fitting gloves.
• When the driver asks you to get off and walk, do it without grumbling. He will not request it unless absolutely necessary. If a team runs away, sit still and take your chances; if you jump, nine times out of ten you will be hurt.
• In very cold weather, abstain entirely from liquor while on the road; a man will freeze twice as quick while under its influence.

 Further down the list...

• If you have anything to take in a bottle, pass it around; a man who drinks by himself in such a case is lost to all human feeling. Provide stimulants before starting; ranch whisky is not always nectar.

Mark Twain described his overland journey from St. Jo to Carson City in Roughing It. Today the journey would take twenty-two hours by car.  Mark Twain's journey took just under nine days... and that was unusually fast for the times.

"We changed horses every ten miles, all day long, and fairly flew over the hard, level road. We jumped out and stretched our legs every time the coach stopped, and so the night found us still vivacious and unfatigued."

This wouldn't last. There were only three people on the coach, two of which were Samuel Clemons and his brother. All other available space was taken up by mail bags. Usually passengers were cheek and jowl with other passengers.

 "We began to get into country, now, threaded here and there with little streams. These had high, steep banks on each side, and every time we flew down one bank and scrambled up the other, our party inside got mixed somewhat. First we would all lie down in a pile at the forward end of the stage, nearly in a sitting posture, and in a second we would shoot to the other end and stand on our heads."

Having, as a child, been packed into a car with three adults, two children, luggage and Christmas gifts for a ten hour drive to visit family, I can sympathize.

Highways are smoother. Distances seem shorter. Regardless, when hitting the road, the concluding words of the Omaha Herald article still hold true:

 "...expect annoyance, discomfort and some hardships. If you are disappointed, thank heaven"