Historic Highways of America/Volume 10/Chapter 4
CHAPTER IV
STAGECOACHES AND FREIGHTERS
THE great work of building and keeping in repair the Cumberland Road, and of operating it, developed a race of men as unknown before its era as afterward. For the real life of the road, however, one will look to the days of its prime—to those who passed over its stately stretches and dusty coils as stage- and mail-coach drivers, express carriers and "wagoners," and the tens of thousands of passengers and immigrants who composed the public which patronized the great highway. This was the real life of the road—coaches numbering as many as twenty traveling in a single line; wagonhouse yards where a hundred tired horses rested over night beside their great loads; hotels where seventy transient guests have been served breakfast in a single morning; a life made cheery by the echoing horns of hurrying stages; blinded by the dust of droves of cattle numbering into the thousands; a life noisy with the satisfactory creak and crunch of the wheels of great wagons carrying six and eight thousand pounds of freight east or west.
The revolution of society since those days could not have been more surprising. The change has been so great it is a wonder that men deign to count their gain by the same numerical system. As Macaulay has said, we do not travel today, we merely "arrive." You are hardly a traveler now unless you cross a continent. Travel was once an education. This is growing less and less true with the passing years. Fancy a journey from St. Louis to New York in the old coaching days, over the Cumberland and the old York Roads. How many persons the traveler met! How many interesting and instructive conversations were held with fellow travelers through the long hours; what customs, characters, foibles, amusing incidents would be noticed and remembered, ever afterward furnishing the information necessary to help one talk well and the sympathy necessary to render one capable of listening to others. The traveler often sat at table with statesmen whom the nation honored, as well as with stagecoach-drivers whom a nation knew for their skill and prowess with six galloping horses. Henry Clays and "Red" Buntings dined together, and each made the other wiser, if not better. The greater the gulf grows between the rich and poor, the more ignorant do both become, particularly the rich. There was undoubtedly a monotony in stagecoach journeying, but the continual views of the landscape, the ever-fresh air, the constantly passing throngs of various description, made such traveling an experience unknown to us "arrivers" of today. How fast it has been forgotten that travel means seeing people rather than things. The age of sight-seeing has superseded that of traveling. How few of us can say with the New Hampshire sage: "We have traveled a great deal 'in Concord.'" Splendidly are the old coaching days described by Thackeray, who caught their spirit:
"The Island rang, as yet, with the tooting horns and rattling teams of mail-coaches; a gay sight was the road in merry England in those days, before steam-engines arose and flung its hostelry and chivalry over. To travel in coaches, to drive coaches, to know coachmen and guards, to be familiar with inns along the road, to laugh with the jolly hostess in the bar, to chuck the pretty chambermaid under the chin, were the delight of men who were young not very long ago. The Road was an institution, the Ring was an institution. Men rallied around them; and, not without a kind conservatism, expatiated upon the benefits with which they endowed the country, and the evils which would occur when they should be no more:—decay of English spirit, decay of manly pluck, ruin of the breed of horses, and so forth, and so forth. To give and take a black eye was not unusual nor derogatory in a gentleman; to drive a stage-coach the enjoyment, the emulation of generous youth. Is there any young fellow of the present time who aspires to take the place of a stoker? You see occasionally in Hyde Park one dismal old drag with a lonely driver. Where are you, charioteers? Where are you, O rattling 'Quicksilver,' O swift 'Defiance?' You are passed by racers stronger and swifter than you. Your lamps are out, and the music of your horns has died away."[1]
In the old coaching days the passenger- and mail-coaches were operated very much like the railways of today. A vast network of lines covered the land. Great companies owned hundreds of stages operating on innumerable routes, competing with other companies. These rival stage companies fought each other at times with great bitterness, and competed, as railways do today, in lowering tariff and in outdoing each other in points of speed and accommodation.[2] New inventions and appliances were eagerly sought in the hope of securing a larger share of public patronage. This competition extended into every phase of the business—fast horses, comfortable coaches, well-known and companionable drivers, favorable connections.
However, competition, as is always the case, sifted the competitors down to a small number. Companies which operated upon the Cumberland Road between Indianapolis and Cumberland became distinct in character and catered to a steady patronage which had its distinctive characteristics and social tone. This was in part determined by the taverns which the various lines patronized. Each line ordinarily stopped at separate taverns in every town. There were also found Grand Union taverns on the Cumberland Road. Had this system of communication not been abandoned, coach lines would have gone through the same experience that the railways have, and for very similar reasons.
The largest coach line on the Cumberland Road was the National Road Stage Company, whose most prominent member was Lucius W. Stockton. The headquarters of this line were at the National House on Morgantown Street, Uniontown, Pennsylvania. The principal rival of the National Road Stage Company was the "Good Intent" line, owned by Shriver, Steele, and Company, with headquarters at the McClelland House, Uniontown. The Ohio National Stage Company, with headquarters at Columbus, Ohio, operated on the western division of the road. There were many smaller lines, as the "Landlords," "Pilot," "Pioneer," "Defiance," "June Bug," etc.
Some of the first lines of stages were operated in sections, each section having different proprietors who could sell out at any time. The greater lines were constantly absorbing smaller lines and extending their ramifications in all directions. It will be seen there were trusts even in the "good old days" of stagecoaches, when smaller firms were "gobbled up" and "driven out" as happens today, and will ever happen in mundane history, despite the nonsense of political garblers. One of the largest stage companies on the old road was Neil, Moore, and Company of Columbus, which operated hundreds of stages throughout Ohio. It was unable to compete with the Ohio National Stage Company to which it finally sold out, Mr. Neil becoming one of the magnates of the latter company, which was, compared with corporations of its time, a greater trust than anything known in Ohio today.[3]
To know what the old coaches really were, one should see and ride in one. It is doubtful if a single one now remains intact. Here and there inquiry will raise the rumor of an old coach still standing on wheels, but if the rumor is traced to its source, it will be found that the chariot was sold to a circus or wild west show or has been utterly destroyed. The demand for the old stages has been quite lively on the part of the wild west shows. These old coaches were handsome affairs in their day—painted and decorated profusely without, and lined within with soft silk plush.[4] There were ordinarily three seats inside, each capable of holding three passengers. Upon the driver's high outer seat was room for one more passenger, a fortunate position in good weather. The best coaches, like their counterparts on the railways of today, were named; the names of states, warriors, statesmen, generals, nations, and cities, besides fanciful names, as "Jewess," "Ivanhoe," "Sultana," "Loch Lomond," were called into requisition.
The first coaches to run on the Cumberland Road were long, awkward affairs, without braces or springs, and with seats placed crosswise. The door was in front, and passengers, on entering, had to climb over the seats. These first coaches were made at Little Crossings, Pennsylvania.
The bodies of succeeding coaches were placed upon thick, wide leathern straps which served as springs and which were called "thorough braces." At either end of the body was the driver's boot and the baggage boot. The first "Troy" coach put on the road came in 1829. It was a great novelty, but some hundreds of them were soon throwing the dust of Maryland and Pennsylvania into the air. Their cost then was between four and six hundred dollars. The harness used on the road was of giant proportions. The backbands were often fifteen inches wide, and the hip bands, ten. The traces were chains with short thick links and very heavy.
But the passenger traffic of the Cumberland Road bore the same relation to the freight traffic as passenger traffic does to freight on the modern railway—a small item, financially considered. It was for the great wagons and their wagoners to haul over the mountains and distribute throughout the west the products of mill and factory and the rich harvests of the fields. And this great freight traffic created a race of men of its own, strong and daring, as they well had need to be. The fact that teamsters of these "mountain ships" had taverns or "wagon houses" of their own, where they stopped, tended to separate them into a class by themselves. These wagonhouses were far more numerous than the taverns along the road, being found as often as one in every mile or two. Here, in the commodious yards, the weary horses and their swarthy Jehus slept in the open air. In winter weather the men slept on the floors of the wagonhouses. In summer many wagoners carried their own cooking utensils. In the suburbs of the towns along the road they would pull their teams out into the roadside and pitch camp, sending into the village to replenish their stores.
The bed of the old road freighter was long and deep, bending upward at the bottom at either end. The lower broad side was painted blue, with a movable board inserted above, painted red. The top covering was white canvas drawn over broad wooden bows. Many of the wagoners hung bells of a shape much similar to dinner bells on a thin iron arch over the hames of the harness. Often the number of bells indicated the prowess of a teamster's horses, as the custom prevailed, in certain parts, that when a team became fast, or was unable to make the grade, the wagoner rendering the necessary assistance appropriated all the bells of the luckless team.
The wheels of the freighters were of a size proportionate to the rest of the wagon. The first wagons used on the old roads had narrow rims, but it was not long before the broad rims, or "broad-tread wagons," came into general use by those who made a business of freighting. The narrow rims were always used by farmers, who, during the busiest season on the road, deserted their farms for the high wages temporarily to be made, and who in consequence were dubbed "sharpshooters" by the regulars. The width of the broad-tread wheels was four inches. As will be noted, tolls for broad wheels were less than for the narrow ones which tended to cut the roadbed more deeply. One ingenious inventor planned to build a wheel with a rim wide enough to pass the tollgates free. The model was a wagon which had the rear axle four inches shorter than the front, making a track eight inches in width. Nine horses were hitched to this wagon, three abreast. The team caused much comment, but was not voted practicable.
The loads carried on the mountain ships were very large. An Ohio man, McBride by name, in the winter of 1848 went over the mountains with seven horses, taking a load of nine hogsheads weighing an average of one thousand pounds each.
The following description is from the St. Clairsville (Ohio) Gazette of 1835:
"It was a familiar saying with Sam Patch that some things can be done easier than others, and this fact was forcibly brought to our mind by seeing a six-horse team pass our office on Wednesday last, laden with eleven hogsheads of tobacco, destined for Wheeling. Some speculation having gone forth as to its weight, the driver was induced to test it on the hayscales in this place, and it amounted to 13,280 lbs. gross weight—net weight 10,375. This team (owned by General C. Hoover of this county) took the load into Wheeling with ease, having a hill to ascend from the river to the level of the town, of eight degrees. The Buckeyes of Belmont may challenge competition in this line."
Teamsters received good wages, especially when trade was brisk. From Brownsville to Cumberland they often received $1.25 a hundred; $2.25 per hundred has been paid for a load hauled from Wheeling to Cumberland.[5] The stage-drivers received twelve dollars a month with board and lodging. Usually the stage-drivers had one particular route between two towns about twelve miles apart on which they drove year after year, and learned it as well as trainmen know their "runs" today. The life was hard, but the dash and spirit rendered it as fascinating as railway life is now.
Far better time was made by these old conveyances than many realize. Ten miles an hour was an ordinary rate of speed. A stage-driver was dismissed more quickly for making slow time, than for being guilty of intoxication, though either offense was considered worthy of dismissal. The waybills handed to the drivers with the reins often bore the words: "Make this time or we'll find some one who will." Competition in the matter of speed was as intense as it is now in the days of steam. A thousand legends of these rivalries still linger in story and tradition. Defeated competitors were held accountable by their companies and the loads or condition of their horses were seldom accepted as excuses. Couplets were often conjured up containing some brief story of defeat with a cutting sting for the vanquished driver:
"If you take a seat in Stockton's line
You are sure to be passed by Pete Burdine."
or,
"Said Billy Willis to Peter Burdine
You had better wait for the oyster line."
According to a contemporary account, in September, 1837, Van Buren's presidential message was carried from Baltimore (Canton Depot) to Philadelphia, a distance of one hundred and forty miles, in four hours and forty-three minutes. Seventy miles of the journey was done by rail, three by boat, and eighty-seven by horse. The seventy-three by rail and boat occupied one hundred and seventeen minutes and the eighty-seven by horse occupied the remaining two hundred and twenty-six minutes, or each mile in about two minutes and a half. This time must be considered remarkable. The mere fact that these figures are not at all consistent need occasion no alarm; they form the most consistent part of the story.
The news of the death of William the Fourth of England, which occurred June 20, 1837, was printed in Columbus, Ohio papers July 28. It was not until 1847 that the capital of Ohio was connected with the world by telegraph wires.
Time-tables of passenger coaches were published as railway time-tables are today. The following is a Cumberland Road time-table printed at Columbus for the winter of 1835–1836:
COACH LINES
WINTER ARRANGEMENT
The Old Stage Lines with all their different connections throughout the state, continue as heretofore.
The Mail Pilot Line, leaves Columbus for Wheeling daily, at 6 A. M., reaching Zanesville at 1 P. M. and Wheeling at 6 A. M. next day, through in 24 hours, allowing five hours repose at St. Clairsville.
The Good Intent Line, leaves Columbus for Wheeling, daily at 1 P. M., through in 20 hours, reaching Wheeling in time to connect with the stages for Baltimore and Philadelphia.
The Mail Pilot Line, leaves Columbus daily, for Cincinnati at 8 A. M., through in 36 hours, allowing six hours repose at Springfield.
Extras furnished on the above routes at any hour when required.
The Eagle Line, leaves Columbus every other day, for Cleveland, through in 40 hours, via Mt. Vernon and Wooster.
The Telegraph Line leaves Columbus for Sandusky City, every other day at 5 A. M., through in two days, allowing rest at Marion, and connecting there with the line to Detroit, via Lower Sandusky.
The Phoenix Line, leaves Columbus every other day, for Huron, via Mt. Vernon and Norwalk, through in 48 hours.
The Daily Line of Mail Coaches, leaves Columbus, for Chillicothe at 5 A. M., connecting there with the line to Maysville, Ky., and Portsmouth.
For seats apply at the General Stage Office, next door to Col. Noble's National Hotel.
The following advertisement of an opposition line, running in 1837, is an interesting suggestion of the intense spirit of rivalry which was felt as keenly, if not more so, as in our day of close competition:
OPPOSITION!
Defiance Fast Line Coaches
DAILY
From Wheeling, Va. to Cincinnati, O. via Zanesville, Columbus, Springfield and intermediate points.
Through in less time than any other line.
"By opposition the people are well served."
The Defiance Fast Line connects at Wheeling, Va. with Reside & Co.'s Two Superior daily lines to Baltimore, McNair and Co.'s Mail Coach line, via Bedford, Chambersburg and the Columbia and Harrisburg Rail Roads to Philadelphia, being the only direct line from Wheeling—: also with the only coach line from Wheeling to Pittsburg, via Washington, Pa., and with numerous cross lines in Ohio.
The proprietors having been released on the 1st inst. from burthen of carrying the great mail, (which will retard any line) are now enabled to run through in a shorter time than any other line on the road. They will use every exertion to accommodate the traveling public. With stock infinitely superior to any on the road, they flatter themselves they will be able to give general satisfaction; and believe the public are aware, from past experience, that a liberal patronage to the above line will prevent impositions in high rates of fare by any stage monopoly.
The proprietors of the Defiance Fast Line are making the necessary arrangements to stock the Sandusky and Cleveland Routes also from Springfield to Dayton—which will be done during the month of July.
All baggage and parcels only received at the risk of the owners thereof.
Jno. W. Weaver & Co.,
Geo. W. Manypenny,
Jno. Yontz,
From Wheeling to Columbus, Ohio.
James H. Bacon,
William Rianhard,
F. M. Wright,
William H. Fife,
From Columbus to Cincinnati.
There was always danger in riding at night, especially over the mountains, where sometimes a misstep would cost a life. The following item from a letter written in 1837 tells of such an incident:
"One of the Reliance line of stages, from Frederick to the West, passed through here on its way to Cumberland. About ten o'clock the ill-fated coach reached a small spur of the mountain, running to the Potomac, and between this place and Hancock, termed Millstone Point, where the driver mistaking the track, reined his horses too near the edge of the precipice, and in the twinkling of an eye, coach, horses, driver, and passengers were precipitated upward of thirty-five feet onto a bed of rock below—the coach was dashed to pieces, and two of the horses killed—literally smashed.
"A respectable elderly lady of the name of Clarke, of Louisville, Kentucky, and a negro child were crushed to death—and a man so dreadfully mangled that his life is flickering on his lips only. His face was beaten to a mummy. The other passengers and the driver were woefully bruised, but it is supposed they are out of danger. There were seven in number.
"I cannot gather that any blame was attached to the driver. It is said that he was perfectly sober; but he and his horses were new to this road, and the night was foggy and very dark."
An act of the legislature of Ohio required that every stagecoach used for the conveyance of passengers in the night should have two good lamps affixed in the usual manner, and subjected the owner to a fine of from ten to thirty dollars for every forty-eight hours the coach was not so provided. Drivers of coaches who should drive in the night when the track could not be distinctly seen without having the lamps lighted were subject to a forfeiture of from five to ten dollars for each offense. The same act provided that drivers guilty of intoxication, so as to endanger the safety of passengers, on written notice of a passenger on oath, to the owner or agent, should be forthwith discharged, and subjected the owner continuing to employ that driver more than three days after such notice to a forfeiture of fifty dollars a day.
Stage proprietors were required to keep a printed copy of the act posted up in their offices, under a penalty of five dollars.
Another act of the Ohio legislature subjected drivers who should leave their horses without being fastened, to a fine of not over twenty dollars.
As has been intimated, passengers purchased their tickets of the stage company in whose stage they embarked, and the tolls were included in the price of the ticket. A paper resembling a waybill was made out by the agent of the line at the starting point. This paper was given to the driver and delivered by him to the landlord at each station upon the arrival of the coach. This paper contained the names and destinations of the passengers carried, the sums paid as fare and the time of departure, and contained blank squares for registering time of arrival and departure from each station. The fares varied slightly but averaged about four cents a mile.
- ↑ Thackeray's The Newcomes, vol. i, ch. x.
- ↑ In one instance a struggle between two stagecoach lines in Indiana resulted in carrying passengers from Richmond to Cincinnati for fifty cents. The regular price was five dollars.
- ↑ An old Ohio National Stage driver, Mr. Samuel B. Baker of Kirkersville, Ohio, is authority for the statement that the Ohio National Stage Company put a line of stages on the Wooster–Wheeling mail and freight route and "ran out" the line which had been doing all the business previously, after an eight months' bitter contest.
- ↑ The following appeared in the Ohio State Journal of August 12, 1837: "A Splendid Coach—We have looked at a Coach now finishing off in the shop of Messrs. Evans & Pinney of this city, for the Ohio Stage Company, and intended we believe for the inspection of the Post-Master General, who sometime since offered premiums for models of the most approved construction, which is certainly one of the most perfect and splendid specimens of workmanship in this line that we have ever beheld, and would be a credit to any Coach Manufactory in the United States. It is aimed, in its construction, to secure the mail in the safest manner possible, under lock and key, and to accommodate three outside passengers under a comfortable and complete protection from the weather. It is worth going to see."
- ↑ Before the era of the Cumberland Road the price for hauling the goods of emigrants over Braddock's Road was very high. One emigrant paid $5.33 per hundred for hauling "women and goods" from Alexandria, Virginia, to the Monongahela. Six dollars per hundredweight was charged one emigrant from Hagerstown, Maryland, to Terre Haute, Indiana.