THE JEHU, THE WHIP, THE STAGECOACH DRIVER By Cheri Kay Clifton

As an historical western author, I am constantly researching factual information to weave into my fictional stories. As I’m sure other historical authors will agree, it can be both interesting and time-consuming, even becoming an obsession to the detriment of getting the book written!

In Destiny’s Journey, Book 2 of my Wheels of Destiny Trilogy, a secondary character works for the Wells, Fargo and Company Stagecoach Line as a stagecoach driver. Of course, I found a wealth of information about the history of stagecoaches and in particular, Wells, Fargo and Company. However, I had to delve deeper to better understand the extremely difficult job of driving a stagecoach as well as appreciate the man holding the reins.

Drivers were often called nicknames such as, “whip,” “jehu,” and reinsman. The name, “jehu” came from the biblical King Jehu in the Old Testament who was known for driving his chariot fast and furiously. The jehu’s profession required excellent horsemanship, driving skills and often demanded great courage traveling through hostile Indian country and the possibility of being threatened by highway robbers.

Many of the stage routes traveled over rugged roads, wheels sinking into deep sand or thick mud; other routes wound through mountains, the trails hugging the sides of steep and narrow cliffs. Stagecoaches averaged about 5 miles per hour, depending on the terrain. On some routes, the driver would have his own section, driven over and over, usually covering about 50 miles. A driver could make a good salary, sometimes as much as $125 a month, plus room and board. Average age for most drivers were under the age of 40.

The nickname, “whip,” is self-explanatory. Many stagecoach drivers considered their whips as badges of honor. They took pride in them, some handcrafted with silver layered over handles made of hickory.  The whips had buckskin lashes, usually 11 to 12 feet long. Unlike the way they were depicted in the movies, stagecoach drivers seldom used cracking of the whip. They were concerned the sharp sounds could not only startle their passengers but worse yet, spook their horses. 

Obviously, most important were the two or three pairs of reins the driver held in his hands, depending on a four or six-horse team. Sensitive to the driver’s lead, the horses responded to the slightest movement of the reins and depended on the driver for continual guidance. Often shouting commands, the reinsman just as often soothed his horses with soft spoken words to encourage them along precarious mountain trails.

Among the most daring and legendary who rode the “box,” were Clark Foss, George Monroe, Henry “Hank” Monk, and Charlie Webster. Although they were mostly men drivers, there were also women, namely Charley Parkhurst, Mary Fields and Delia Haskett Rawson.  Tobacco-chewin’ Charley Parkhurst, who was well-known throughout California for being one of the best jehus in the stage business, to everyone’s shock, was discovered to be a biological woman when her body was prepared for burial.

Noted whip of the Gold Rush days. 
Drove a stage over Mt. Madonna in 
early days of valley. Last run
San Juan to Santa Cruz. Death in
cabin near the 7-mile house,
revealed "One Eyed Charlie",
a woman. The first woman to vote
in the U.S. Nov. 3, 1868

Erected 1955

Pajaro Valley Historical Ass'n.

Stagecoaches were not just for passengers. They often carried legal documents, large bank deposits, company payrolls as well as the U.S. Mail. When carrying valuable freight, for added protection, “shotgun messengers” rode beside the driver, armed with their trusty double-barreled shotguns.

Even though trains were being used more and more for transporting both passengers and cargo, they were still confined to their tracks.  It wasn’t until the early 1900’s when the introduction of the automobile actually led to the end of the stagecoach.

During these difficult times, wishing you "happy, healthy and safe trails!" 

Click to see Destiny's Journey, Book 2, Wheels of Destiny Trilogy 

Author's Notes on Stagecoaches by Zina Abbott

I am playing “beat the clock” in an effort to get my next book published according to schedule. Although I stated earlier that I would share about frontier forts along the Santa Fe Trail, I’ve decided, for this month, to digress by sharing part of my Author’s Notes at the end of my book instead. It should give readers a general idea of some of the elements in my story without giving the plot away. Here goes:

         The earlier stagecoach company to operate in the vicinity of Ellsworth, Kansas was the Kansas Stage Company.

         In 1865, David Butterfield (no relation to John Butterfield who operated the Butterfield Overland Mail Company from St. Louis, Missouri south through Texas, New Mexico and Arizona Territories, and California before the American Civil War), decided to capitalize on the Smoky Hill Trail being the shortest route from shipping points in the east to Denver, Colorado. He formed the Butterfield Overland Despatch (B.O.D.) After putting together his financing, he began building stations, and buying stagecoaches and livestock.

         Several styles of stagecoaches were used throughout the West. Some were referred to as “mud wagons” because they were designed to travel over many types of difficult road conditions such as those found in less-developed regions.

 

"Mud Wagon" style stagecoach

         David Butterfield bought what are referred to as Concord coaches from the New Hampshire company of Abbott and Downing. These coaches were distinctive in that they used a style of suspension and construction involving leather thorough braces which suspended passengers who were in constant motion while the coach was moving. The swaying was accepted by passengers because of the shock-absorbing action of the leather straps which eased the coach over the rough terrain of nineteenth century roads. Wells, Fargo & Company, which eventually bought out the Butterfield Overland Despatch line, also used Concord coaches. The distinctive red coaches with yellow wheels are still recognized today as a symbol for Wells Fargo.

Concord Coach courtesy of the B&O Museum Collection

          The B.O.D. operated three types of stations. Home stations were run by families. They provided meals for a fee. Stations where stock was kept might have one to three stock tenders that changed out teams. Stops there might be only five to ten minutes, barely long enough for passengers to use the necessary. The third type of station was a cattle station where oxen were kept for freighters who wished to change their yokes of oxen for fresh teams. (Butterfield also operated oxen-pulled freight trains along this route.) All B.O.D. cattle stations were also home stations.

         The first B.O.D. stagecoach run left Atchison, Kansas on September 11, 1865 and arrived in Denver on September 23rd. The section from Atchison to Fort Ellsworth was fairly well established and travel was smooth. The stations from Fort Ellsworth westward were not completely built or filled with necessary livestock at first. Conditions were rougher and fraught with danger the entire time the B.O.D. was in operation.

 

Most of the B.O.D. Stations mentioned in Mail Order Roslyn

         Tensions between the white Americans and the native Americans escalated in western Kansas during this period of time. The Cheyenne, predominantly, but also the Arapaho and Kiowa, resisted being driven from their prime southern bison hunting grounds (between the Platte River to the north and the Arkansas River to the south). As much as they attacked the forts, the stagecoaches were a bigger target for them because they increasingly brought white Americans to their lands. Some attacks involved perhaps ten to twenty natives. Survivors of other attacks claim there were 100 or more native warriors involved. 

         The Native Americans fought desperately to stop anything and anyone from crossing their hunting lands. They feared the coming of the railroad. Bison were disturbed by the activity of the forts and stagecoaches, but would not cross railroad tracks. This disrupted the normal bison migration pattern of moving to the southern plains during colder weather, but north to the new grass during the summer months.

Indians attacking a stagecoach

         Along the Smoky Hill Trail, the Ellsworth stagecoach station was built close to Fort Ellsworth (later changed to Fort Harker.) Fort Fletcher (later Fort Hays) and Fort Wallace were originally military camps at stagecoach station sites. The primary duties of the frontier forts at that time included protecting the mails (Ben Holliday held the mail contract and used the Overland route along the Platte River), the stagecoaches, and the railroad crews.

         Due to tremendous losses of stock, stagecoaches, stations, and personnel, in March 1866, the Butterfield Overland Despatch company was sold to Ben Holladay, who continued to operate the stage operation, even though a month after he bought the company, he sold the majority of the stock in the company to Well, Fargo & Company. The B.O.D. ceased operation in 1870.

         As far as real history goes, the Ellsworth B.O.D. station was a home station, which meant it would have been operated by a family. I found lists of B.O.D. stations along the Smoky Hill Trail, but no details about the schedule other than the stagecoaches ran thrice weekly. Atchison would have been the division headquarters for the eastern part of the route. I did find reference to a resident division agent at Big Creek Station just west of Fort Fletcher (later Fort Hays) who was in charge of the route from that point to the west. The schedule I devised for my story is fictional, although possible, based on what I found in my research. It is also possible that stagecoach runs by one driver for the eastern division might have gone from Atchison, Kansas to Big Creek Station.

         I found records of a raid by hostiles on Fort Ellsworth on August 7, 1864. The natives captured five mules from the Kansas Stage Company and fifty horses from the fort. There is a record of another attack on the fort on June 17, 1865, but there were no details given in the report regarding losses. Both instances took place before the B.O.D. operated a station by the fort.

 

Fort Ellsworth in 1867-photo by famous CW photographer, Mathew Brady

         During this period, Fort Ellsworth was manned by the Seventh Iowa Cavalry under the command of 2nd Lt. Allen Ellsworth. Any online reference to this regiment’s history involved either their Civil War service, or action by some of their companies in Indian Wars campaigns in the Nebraska area. I have no idea if the company at Fort Ellsworth had a post surgeon with them. I doubt the regimental surgeon was stationed there. I write my story as if they did not have a medical officer with them. Shortly after, the original site of Fort Ellsworth built on the Smoky Hill River, which had a tendency to flood, was abandoned and rebuilt about a mile northeast.

         For the sake of my fictional story, I moved the June 17, 1865 attack at Fort Ellsworth closer in time a year to 1866 and included the B.O.D. station in the attack. Although this is not historically accurate, there were several attacks by the three hostile tribes, particularly by the Cheyenne “Dog Soldiers,” against B.O.D. stagecoach stations farther west from Ellsworth during the time period of my story.

             Mail Order Roslyn is not on preorder, and there is a reason I am not yet sharing the book description.  It is scheduled to be published Friday, or no later than Saturday, depending on how things go with Amazon. When it is available, I will notify my readers through my newsletter, my Zina Abbott Books blog, plus the Mail-Order Bride Romance Readers group on Facebook.

THE JEHU, THE WHIP, THE STAGECOACH DRIVER by Cheri Kay Clifton

 As an historical western author, I am constantly researching factual information to weave into my fictional stories. As I’m sure other historical authors will agree, it can be both interesting and time-consuming, even becoming an obsession to the detriment of getting the book written!

In Destiny’s Journey, Book 2 of my Wheels of Destiny Trilogy, a secondary character works for the Wells, Fargo and Company Stagecoach Line as a stagecoach driver. Of course, I found a wealth of information about the history of stagecoaches and in particular, Wells, Fargo and Company. However, I had to delve deeper to better understand the extremely difficult job of driving a stagecoach as well as appreciate the man holding the reins.

Drivers were often called nicknames such as, “whip,” “jehu,” and reinsman. The name, “jehu” came from the biblical King Jehu in the Old Testament who was known for driving his chariot fast and furiously. The jehu’s profession required excellent horsemanship, driving skills and often demanded great courage traveling through hostile Indian country and the possibility of being threatened by highway robbers.

Many of the stage routes traveled over rugged roads, wheels sinking into deep sand or thick mud; other routes wound through mountains, the trails hugging the sides of steep and narrow cliffs. Stagecoaches averaged about 5 miles per hour, depending on the terrain. On some routes, the driver would have his own section, driven over and over, usually covering about 50 miles. A driver could make a good salary, sometimes as much as $125 a month, plus room and board. Average age for most drivers were under the age of 40.

The nickname, “whip,” is self-explanatory. Many stagecoach drivers considered their whips as badges of honor. They took pride in them, some handcrafted with silver layered over handles made of hickory.  The whips had buckskin lashes, usually 11 to 12 feet long. Unlike the way they were depicted in the movies, stagecoach drivers seldom used cracking of the whip. They were concerned the sharp sounds could not only startle their passengers but worse yet, spook their horses.

Obviously, most important were the two or three pairs of reins the driver held in his hands, depending on a four or six-horse team. Sensitive to the driver’s lead, the horses responded to the slightest movement of the reins and depended on the driver for continual guidance. Often shouting commands, the reinsman just as often soothed his horses with soft spoken words to encourage them along precarious mountain trails.

Among the most daring and legendary who rode the “box,” were Clark Foss, George Monroe, Henry “Hank” Monk, and Charlie Webster. Although they were mostly men drivers, there were also women, namely Charley Parkhurst, Mary Fields and Delia Haskett Rawson.  Tobacco-chewin’ Charley Parkhurst, who was well-known throughout California for being one of the best jehus in the stage business, to everyone’s shock, was discovered to be a biological woman when her body was prepared for burial.

Noted whip of the Gold Rush days. 
Drove a stage over Mt. Madonna in 
early days of valley. Last run
San Juan to Santa Cruz. Death in
cabin near the 7-mile house,
revealed "One Eyed Charlie",
a woman. The first woman to vote
in the U.S. Nov. 3, 1868

Erected 1955

Pajaro Valley Historical Ass'n.

Stagecoaches were not just for passengers. They often carried legal documents, large bank deposits, company payrolls as well as the U.S. Mail. When carrying valuable freight, for added protection, “shotgun messengers” rode beside the driver, armed with their trusty double-barreled shotguns.

Even though trains were being used more and more for transporting both passengers and cargo, they were still confined to their tracks.  It wasn’t until the early 1900’s when the introduction of the automobile actually led to the end of the stagecoach. 

CLICK HERE TO ORDER

A Chance Encounter With James Bowie

By Paisley Kirkpatrick

In 1858 Xavier Eyma published a short story about encountering James Bowie while traveling the United States. Since the hero in my first published story, Night Angel, also carried this same knife, I found the encounter very interesting.

One day while traveling the U.S. Eyma found himself in a carriage with three people: a lady, her husband, and a third individual who was wrapped in a cloak and apparently sound asleep. Suddenly an enormous Kentuckian got into the coach. He was smoking a cigar and he cast a glance around him that seemed to say: "I am half hoss and half alligator, a true son of Kentucky, flower of the forests."

Then he puffed out thick clouds of smoke, without any regard for his fellow travelers, and especially for the young lady whom the smoke very evidently made sick. Thus the husband courteously asked the Kentuckian to stop smoking. The latter replied: "I have paid for my seat. I shall smoke as much as I please, and nobody in the world shall stop me."

After saying this, he rolled his eyes fiercely and looked around him with a provocative air as if daring anyone to counter reply.

Eyma hesitated a moment, wondering whether he should intervene, but realized he would have little chance against such an athletic adversary, and thought of the impotence of the law which offered no recourse against him.

It was then the traveler, who had been asleep, calmly unwrapped his cloak and sat up straight. He was a man of medium size, rather frail looking, buttoned from top to bottom. He fixed two piercing gray eyes on the Kentuckian and before pronouncing a single word, reached behind his neck and drew out a long knife, sharp as a razor. "Sir," he said to the Kentuckian, "my name is Colonel James Bowie well known, I believe, in Arkansas and Louisiana. If, within one minute you do not throw your cigar out of the window, I shall stick this knife into your belly just as true as I am going to die someday."

The strange expression in Colonel Bowie's glance was something magnetic and fascinating. The Kentuckian bore it for a few seconds and then he lowered his eyes, took the cigar from his mouth and threw it out of the window.

Colonel Bowie then restored his knife to its peculiar sheath between his shoulders, wrapped himself in his cloak, closed his eyes, went to sleep, and did not say another word during the whole trip.

Since that time, Colonel Bowie's weapon has acquired a sinister celebrity, and its use has become too frequent in the U.S. If on one occasion, that terrible knife performed the good deed of teaching manners to a coarse Kentuckian, it has since then created many mayors, aldermen, and judges. It has become the last argument in many elections in the U.S.A.

Written by Robert E. Pike, found in the May-June, 1955, True West magazine.

AMAZON: http://amzn.com/B00909PON0

B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/night-angel-paisley-kirkpatrick/1117551757?ean=2940014889667

Traveling By Stagecoach

By Paisley Kirkpatrick

The best seat inside a stage is the one next to the driver. Even if you have a tendency to sea-sickness when riding backwards - you'll get over it and will get less jolts and jostling. Don't let "Sly elph" trade you his mid-seat.

In cold weather don't ride with tight-fitting boots, shoes, or gloves. When the driver asks you to get off and walk do so without grumbling, he won't request it unless absolutely necessary. If the team runs away - sit still and take your chances. If you jump, nine out of ten times you will get hurt. In very cold weather abstain entirely from liquor when on the road, because you will freeze twice as quickly when under it's influence.

Don't growl at the food received at the station - stage companies generally provide the best they can get.

Don't keep the stage waiting. Don't smoke a strong pipe inside the coach. Spit on the leeward side. If you have anything to drink in a bottle pass it around. Procure you're stimulants before starting as "ranch" (stage depot) whiskey is not "nectar."

Don't lean or lop over neighbors when sleeping. Take small change to pay expenses. Never shoot on the road as the noise might frighten the horses. Don't discuss politics or religion.

Don't point out where murders have been committed especially if there are women passengers.

Don't lag at the wash basin. Don't grease your hair, because travel is dusty. Don't imagine for a moment that you are going on a picnic. Expect annoyances, discomfort, and some hardships.

As posted in the Omaha Herald 1877

The next time you travel imagine traveling on a stagecoach and maybe all the rules and regulations at the airport, train station, or crazed drivers on the road won't seem so bad -- unless of course you get to sit next to a hunky cowboy!! Just be careful he's not there to rob the stagecoach passengers.

The Longest Stage Route in the World

By Paisley Kirkpatrick

On Sunday morning, October 10, 1858, an Overland Mail stagecoach dashed along the streets of San Francisco and drew up at the Plaza. At once the shrill blast of a whistle reported the arrival of the first U.S. mail -- two bags -- over the new Butterfield route, just 23 days and 20 hours out of St. Louis. This is the longest stagecoach route the world had ever known -- the official distance being given as 2757 ½ miles. En route, the average speed was less than five miles per hour, with the fastest time, seven and a half miles, made on one stretch in California.

The San Franciscans were jubilant as their dream of closer connection with the East seemed to be coming true. They could hardly believe the recent dates on the newspapers they received were correct.

When the coach itself, behind six sweating, snorting grays, came rattling through her streets, there were horsemen sent in advance to clear a path through the surging mob. Flags were draped from crowded windows and flying from congested rooftops while the driver nodded a response to the shrieking, whistling riot with all the dignity of a field marshal. Cannon and brass bands boomed together, 'stovepipes' crushed between tramping boots in a howling stream of color that flooded the plaza. Then a mass meeting jammed the Music Hall in honor of 'a new epoch' and 'the end of the steamship monopoly.'

Up to this time, mail had reached the Pacific Coast mainly via Panama, on Pacific Mail steamers.

Communication was slow and very irregular; in fact, six weeks passed before Californians received the glad news that their state had been admitted into the Union on September 9, 1850.

January-February, 1956 issue of True West, Posted by M. R. Krythe

Wells Fargo Stagecoach Rules for Passengers

In the old west, the only means of public transportation was the stagecoach.  Stage stops were as common on the western plains as bus stops are today. 

Journeys by stage were long, dusty and uncomfortable.  Coaches were cramped, loaded down with heavy merchandise and luggage and passengers jammed in like sardines—as many as twelve to fifteen at a time.  Crowded conditions such as these required rules. 

Here, taken directly from the 1877 Omaha Herald, are Wells Fargo’s Rules for Riding the Stagecoach. 

Abstinence from liquor is requested, but if you must drink, share the bottle.  To do otherwise makes you appear selfish and unneighborly.

If lades are present, gentlemen are urged to forego smoking cigars and pipes as the odor of same is repugnant to the Gentle 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 during 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 a runaway horse, remain calm.  Leaping from the coach in panic will leave you injured, at the mercy of the elements, hostile Indians and hungry wolves.

Forbidden topics of discussion 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.

Don’t ask how far to the next station until you get there. (LOL you just know that one was for the kids!)