LEGENDS & TALL TALES

THE STAGECOACH

Spearheaded by the migration of thousands of people to California, efforts were made in the early 1850's to alleviate the nightmare of travel and transportation between distant points in the West. The stage line, such as those run by Wells, Fargo & Company and Overland stages, solved the problem of consistent travel west of the Mississippi.

By 1860, the stage had become the most popular means of carrying people, mail, and valuable freight across the West. The Concord stagecoach, first manufactured in Concord, new Hampshire, in 1827, was the coach of choice for the stage companies. Costing around $1,050, a Concord coach could carry as many as 21 passengers and several hundred pounds of freight. The crew consisted of a driver and one or two guards who "rode shotgun," a slang tern still used to describe front-seat passengers.

 A full stage averaged about eight miles per hour. Horses were changed as often as every 12 to 15 miles, while passengers got a break at a comfortable stage stop about every 40 to 50 miles. The three-week journey from the Mississippi River to California cost about $200 per person.

Stage traffic tapered off after the railroad connected major towns, but in some remote areas of the West, it persisted into the 20th century.

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