TRAVEL ON THE CONCORD STAGECOACH

By Caroline Clemmons

When my husband and I lived in Parker County, Texas, we sometimes went to events at the Doss Heritage Center in Weatherford. There, a skillful reproduction of a stagecoach was on exhibit, donated by the late Mr. Brown, a man who painstakingly built them for Hollywood and other customers. It’s a beautiful stage with red body and yellow wheels.

The only stage in which I’ve actually ridden was a less impressive reproduction with only two seats. It was fun, but the ride lasted no longer than five or ten minutes. Traveling for very long in such a vehicle would be uncomfortable and onerous.

The stagecoach I use most in my writing is the nine-person Concord stage. Actually, these varied from six-person to special twelve-person models. Another six passengers could ride on top. If you think this would be a heavy vehicle, you’re correct. They could weigh over 2500 pounds and could stand over nine feet tall. The passengers on the back and front seats had the advantage of a backrest, but contended with a sloping roof overhead. The center seat had no backrest. Passengers kept their balance by grasping a wide leather harness suspended across the interior ceiling. Don’t you know that was tiring on a long journey? If the stage was full, passengers were forced to sit with knees touching or interwoven those of the person across from them. In case there was a steep hill or mountain pass, the passengers could be required to walk to the top.

So far in my books, the stage is empty enough that the heroine can bring her trunks—or at least one trunk. In reality, this is where I’ve taken poetic license. Most times, the only luggage space is in the boot on the back of the stage (no room for trunks) and a box under the driver’s seat for valuables. You can imagine with nine interior passengers and six on top of the coach, there was little room for anyone’s luggage. Trunks would have to be shipped via a freighter.

A reproduction used by a private venue.

We’re familiar with weight limits in modern air travel. That’s not new—stage travel had similar rules. Each stagecoach passenger was allowed a maximum of twenty-five pounds of baggage, which rode in the large rear pouch boot. The U.S. mail typically rode in the front or rear boot, although, as Mark Twain recalled from personal experience in Roughing It (1872), a large load of mail might be shoved among the feet of passengers.  The stage line depended on funds for transporting the mail.

Mark Twain, the author and humorist, described his coach trip west in the 1870 book ROUGHING IT:

“Our coach was a great swinging and swaying stage, of the most sumptuous description – an imposing cradle on wheels. It was drawn by six handsome horses, and by the side of the driver sat the ‘conductor,’ the legitimate captain of the craft; for it was his business to take charge and care of the mails, baggage, express matter, and passengers. We sat on the back seat, inside. About all the rest of the coach was full of mail bags – for we had three days’ delayed mails with us… We changed horses every ten miles, all day long, and fairly flew over the hard, level road.”

The cost was between $1,000 and $1,500 apiece, a lavish sum when a worker considered a dollar a day a good wage. Think about a bachelor sending for a mail order bride at these fares! Abbot-Downing’s biggest customer was Wells, Fargo & Co., although institutions such as hotels would buy a coach to carry guests back and forth from a railroad station.

Concord coaches’ style of suspension and construction was particularly suited to North America’s nineteenth century roads. They were first developed by coachbuilder J. Stephen Abbot and wheelwright Lewis Downing of Concord, New Hampshire. Their high-end expense was justified by their long service life.

The reason a Concord coach was more comfortable was the suspension system. Leather thoroughbraces suspended passengers who were in constant motion while the coach was moving. The swaying was accepted by passengers for the shock absorbing action of the leather straps and for the way the special motion eases the coach over rough patches of roadway. That doesn’t mean they were comfortable, just not as uncomfortable as other types. The swaying caused motion sickness for some.

The back wheels have brake blocks acting on the iron tires. The driver controls them with a foot lever to his right at the side of his footboard.

The familiar egg-shaped body of the Concord coach was renowned for its great strength and its ability to keep passengers dry while floating them across flood-swollen streams. Because the inevitable twisting of the coach body on the rough terrain could easily shatter glass windows, it had only adjustable leather curtains to keep out the dust, wind, and rain. 

Wish you could go back in time? 

Picture yourself riding in a stage across the rough roads that existed in, for example, 1870. You’re sitting with your knees pressed against those of the person facing you. If that person is tall, you may have to weave your knees indelicately. If you’re unlucky enough to be on the middle seat, you’re hanging onto the leather strap connected to the roof. Your feet are resting on a pile of mail as you sway back and forth with the coach’s movements. You’re traveling the 2795 miles from St. Louis to San Francisco over three weeks in these conditions. Food isn’t included, so you have the cost of sixty-three meals to add to your fare--if the opportunity to eat presents itself. Doesn't sound like fun, does it?

Louis McLane, onetime head of Wells, Fargo and Company, wrote to his wife in 1865 about artistic depictions of travel by coach, "I thought staging looked very well to the lithographer, but was the devil in reality." 

A great video on stagecoaches is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYgo2FsZdFU

Next month my post will be about other types of stagecoaches, especially the celerity. 

Have a great month! 

 

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stagecoach

https://concordhistoricalsociety.org/the-concord-coach/  

https://www.encyclopedia.com/science-and-technology/technology/technology-terms-and-concepts/stagecoach

https://concordhistoricalsociety.org/the-concord-coach/   

WHAT CAN A DOLLAR BUY? by Marisa Masterson

The Mississippi River features largely in my next new release. Steamboats traveling up and down that major waterway transport my hero as well as the heroine's sister who goes missing. I wanted to be accurate as I wrote so I researched. Each steamboat captain's dollar surprised me.

By that, I mean the dollar a captain had to pay in St. Louis. The wharf, like many through history, seemed to be a place where criminals sought out opportunities to rob others. The solution in that major port on the Mississippi was to collect a dollar from each captain regularly. 

The Robert E. Lee (in the front) appears in
my novel Verity's Overlander.

This created a fund that was paid to the police. As long as they paid them, an officer would patrol the area to protect the goods brought into the city. I suppose this would be like our modern-day security guards. I've heard that, often, police will moonlight as one of those. 

Another thing I found interesting in my research was the Black Maria. Some readers of this blog might already know what that is. For me, it was new.

I would call it a paddy wagon. That term seemed to be used mainly in New York in the 1800s since many of the people arrest there were Irish. The Black Maria was created with bars to, at first, specially hold one woman, Maria. She was so strong and wild when drunk that they made the wagon for times when they picked her up. Eventually, in London, the wagon became known as a Black Maria. This term was also used in the United States during the setting of my book.

If you're curious to learn how I used these in a sweet romance, check out Verity's Overlander. For a very brief time, it's at the special pre-order price of 99¢!

Poor Mrs. Ella Milton! The matchmaker bends her rules and interviews this bride and groom by letter. No matter the disaster that follows, she still feels the Lord’s blessing in the mess.

Verity Vaksdal wants adventure, just like her Viking ancestors. After reading dime novels, she knows that adventure will only come her way if she finds a dark and handsome hero.

Mrs. Ella Milton helps her find that hero, arranging for her to be a mail-order bride. To make her plan happen, Verity neglects telling Mrs. Milton her real age. At fifteen, Verity sneaks away from home and leaves a panicked older sister behind her. This sets in motion a series of events that will bring her sister, Veronica, to St. Louis. Veronica is the one who meets the dark, handsome hero. Not that she’s happy to see him.

Robbie MacTavish never thought to write away for a wife. After his wife’s death years earlier, he decided never to remarry. His aunt has other ideas and writes to a “friend of a friend”, Mrs. Ella Milton. When the bride fails to show, he is more relieved than disappointed. He needs to focus his attention on leading his family’s group of wagons to Wyoming.

When Veronica, his bride’s much older sister, appears and not Verity, Robbie’s suddenly grows much more interested in marrying. Will he be able to convince this woman that he needs only her as his wife while they race against time to find Verity?

150 YEARS OF HISTORY?

Post by Doris McCraw

writing as Angela Raines

Photo property of the author

2021 marks the sesquicentennial of Colorado Springs. While most will still not be traveling this year, thanks to the internet, Zoom, and other media outlets, others can join in on some of what is happening. 

Besides sharing various stories from the city's history, I am sharing some links to information you might be interested in. 

The town itself was set up as a resort town. Its founders envisioned a place where those from the East and Europe to come and enjoy the clean air and the plethora of natural beauty. The additional benefit they found; the clear air also helped those show suffered from consumption. Note, that consumption during this time was considered any wasting disease which included tuberculous, asthma, cancer among others. For that reason, the area was a magnet for doctors who not only were searching for a cure for themselves but for others also.

Photo property of the author

When you think about it, the kind of people it takes to create a new town, especially one of this type, they had to believe and dream big. 

Here are a few links that you may find interesting concerning this rich history.

The history through quilts: https://youtu.be/6VhV12vzzUs

Holiday Baking at Rock Ledge Ranch: https://youtu.be/BrGiMsmtJcQ

Horsing Around Rock Ledge Ranch: https://youtu.be/2fgN98qAnEM

Women's Suffrage, Jail is not a Pleasant Experience: https://youtu.be/teyM_0CeAUo

History on the Go: https://mobile.cspmstoryofus.com/

Photo property of the author

I hope you all enjoy some of the local histories and find them useful.

Until next time and I share more history. 

Doris Gardner-McCraw -

Author, Speaker, Historian-specializing in
Colorado and Women's History

Western Writers of America,

Colorado Author League,

Women Writing the West

Angela Raines - author: Telling Stories Where Love & History Meet

Books: Angela Raines Books

Post (c) Doris McCraw

  

San Antonio Spring & An Early Texas Author

 

“The ride through the fresh dewy morning hours! Oh, that was worth something! Everything looked as if it were ‘made.’ The sky had that wonderful blueness I have never seen anywhere but in San Antonio; the hillsides were green with the tender green of spring and there was a perfect blaze of flowers everywhere.”

Mollie E. Moore Davis

~Quoted from Quotable Texas Women by Susie Kelly Flatau and Lou Halsell Rodenberger

Mollie Evelyn Moore Davis (pen name: M. E. M. Davis) was an American poet, writer, and editor. Born in Telladega, Alabama, April 12, 1844, she was the only daughter of Dr. John Moore and Lucy Crutchfield. Two of her uncles attained the rank of colonel during the American Civil war, one in the Confederate, the other in the Union army.

Mollie E. Moore Davis; public domain; wikipedia

A few years before the war broke out, Dr. Moore moved his family to Texas and took up planting cotton. There, at the La Rose Blanche Plantation, in Hays County on the banks of the San Marcos River, Mollie grew up. She was educated by private tutors, and her talent for poetry revealed itself. Along with her brother, she also learned to ride, shoot and swim.

From the age of 14, Mollie wrote regularly for the press and periodicals. A critic said of her that she was "more thoroughly Texan in subject, in imagery and spirit than any of the Texas poets," and that scarcely any other than a native Texan could "appreciate all the merits of her poems, so strongly marked are they by the peculiarities of Texas scenery and patriotism." In 1889, Davis became editor of the New Orleans Picayune.

In 1874, Mollie married Major Thomas Edward David, editor of the The Daily Picayune. The couple took up residence in New Orleans’ old French Quarter, where Mollie spent the rest of her life. Accepted into the exclusive Creole society, she studied and wrote about it, but also continued to write about her beloved Texas. Some of her best known short poems were “Going Out and Coming In,” “San Marcos River,” “Stealing Roses through the Gate,” and “Lee at the Wilderness.” Several of her poems and sketches were written for Harper’s Magazine, and other periodicals.

Davis was perhaps most admired for her short stories, which often appeared in northern monthlies. She enjoyed chronicling the lighter, humorous side of life but occasionally touched on sterner problems. "Snaky baked a Hoe-Cake," "Grief" and others, contributed to Wide Awake in 1876, were among the first African-American Vernacular English stories to appear in print.

Davis portrayed life in Texas and Louisiana in a number of novels including: In War time at La Rose Blanche Plantation, Under the Man-Fig, An Elephant’s Track and Other Stories, The Story of Texas Under Six Flags, The Wire Cutters, Jaconetta, and others. In War Times at La Rose Blanche Plantation and Jaconetta were largely autobiographical. Jaconetta was Davis’s childhood nickname during the Civil War.

The Story of Texas Under Six Flags; public domain

In both poetry and prose, Davis depicted characters and settings in minute detail, allowing her readers to “see” what she described. This ability demonstrated a keen observation of not only people, but of the natural world, as shown in the quote at the top of this article.

The Price of Silence; public domain 

 The Price of Silence, published by Houghton, Mifflin and Company in 1907, deals with life in New Orleans, with roots in the past. It evokes the “tragedy of color.” This book was written while the author suffered from an excruciating malady and shows some haste in composition, yet it surpasses her other creations in its bold conception, dramatic situations and intensity. "This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it." ~found on Amazon

Mollie E. Moore Davis died on January 1, 1909, in her home on Royal Street in New Orleans.

The Romance of Wicker Furniture by Jo-Ann Roberts

In my current work in progress, Marrying the Major, Kit Lambert, a proud Southern belle, seeks counsel from her aunt in a serene setting surrounded by fragrant magnolias, wisteria vines, lilac bushes, and...a grouping of wicker chairs and tables. The object of her dilemma?... a  handsome Union major, Will Chandler, whose unnerving presence in their small southern town at the very end of the War Between the States upends her world and her heart.

Nothing sparks my romantic imagination  like a peaceful garden  on a warm early summer evening filled with the scent of flowers and graced with ferns surrounding white wicker furniture. I can visualize a couple sharing sweet kisses, gentle touches, and whispered words of love...*sigh*  So naturally, I wanted to add a scene which added an extra element of romance. This desire led me to researching the history of this favorite type of casual furnishings.

Wicker furniture has a long history that spans nearly 5,000 years - from ancient Egyptian rattan weaving, to the outdoor wicker furniture of our present day. The word  "wicker" is of Scandinavian descent and originates from the words wika which means "to bend" and vikker which means "willow".

This popularity of wicker went beyond ancient Egypt and Rome to various European countries, and finally arriving in America on the Mayflower in the form of a baby cradle! 

Cyrus Wakefield popularized the use of rattan when he began selling it off ships docked at Boston's many ports. The ships would use the material as light weight packaging, capable of keeping crates together.  These materials were used to keep the cargo from shifting around in rough waters during the voyage from Asia. Leftovers were often abandoned on the docks  until they died but Wakefield had a better idea. He took home an armful of the rattan and wove it around the frame of a chair. From this humble beginning, he rose to prominence as one of America's first rattan furniture makers during the 1860s after he married the daughter of a wealthy shipping magnate. Through the connections his in-laws brought to their shipping business Wakefield was able to import rattan from China.

During this time, wicker furniture was used inside the home, on the front porch, and even in the garden. Wakefield Company dominated the industry but was opposed by its largest competitor, Heywood Brothers & Company, who at the time, was the largest manufacturer of wood furniture. The tide shifted when Heywood Brothers developed machinery to automate the process with a loom which could weave the cane. This reduced the price dramatically and the two companies competed heavily in the 1870s-1880s. Ultimately, the two companies merged to form Heywood-Wakefield Company in 1897.

In the world of wicker there are four distinct eras. The Victorian Era (1860s-1900) is notable for its elaborate ornamentation like curlicues and beads, and complicated, handwoven caned back panels in fancy spider-web weaves. Special motifs like moons, stars, and fans were also popular.

The Turn of the Century Era (1900-1917) featured flowing, wavelike lines. These pieces were all handmade with natural materials. During this time period, Gustav Stickley (founder of the renowned Stickley Furniture Company) introduced a wicker style which was modern and revolutionary in design with its straight lines and open latticework.

During the Machine Age (1917-1940s) The Lloyd Loom process was patented in 1917 by Marshall Lloyd, who twisted kraft paper around a metal wire, placed the paper threads on a loom and wove them into what was to become the traditional Lloyd Loom fabric. These chairs quickly became very popular in the U.S. in 1921. Upholstered backs and seat cushions were now the rage. 

The Art Deco style continued to utilize the paper fiber rush weaving multi-colored diamond patterns into the backs of chairs and settees.

My own love of wicker furniture revolves around summer evenings sitting on my in-law's porch on Cape Cod when I was dating my husband. A two-sided porch wrapped around a ten room Victorian house, complete with a small cottage in the back as well as a huge barn and circular drive. But I always sensed that it was that furniture on the porch which gave the house its personality and sense of style. Though the house was sold a few years ago, I hope the new owners spend soft summer nights sipping ice tea on a wicker glider, holding hands and exchanging loving glances.

The Year Without a Summer by Bea Tifton

My apologies for posting late, but I had a terrible migraine caused when the barometric pressure changed drastically and suddenly. Human beings are so affected by the weather, global warming, natural disasters, etc.  But did you know about the Year Without a Summer?

“The Year Without a Summer,” also called “Poverty Year” or “Eighteen Hundred and Froze to Death,” began in Indonesia on April of 1815 when Mount Tambora experienced the largest volcanic eruption in 1,300 years. The eruption and tsunamis that accompanied it killed approximately 10,000 people. The aftereffects killed approximately 80,000 more from disease, starvation, and hypothermia. 

In Switzerland, the resulting eerie fog and miserable weather inspired a group of friends to have an artistic contest at a house party that resulted in one Mary Shelley penning a little book called Frankenstein. The landscape artists of the period across Europe and the United States featured the yellow skies from the volcanic winter in paintings for years to come.

Lake Petworth Sunset Fighting Bucks JMW Turner

In the United States, New England experienced the worst of the weather, getting a foot or more of snow in the summer months. As far south as Pennsylvania, lakes and rivers froze over in July and August. On July 4, 1816 in Savannah Georgie, the high temperatures was 46 degrees. 

 People and livestock froze. Crops failed. Food prices soared. The haze made sunspots visible to the naked eye, so some people thought it must be some planetary alignment or the sun. Many thought that the weather was some sort of Divine judgement, signaling the end of the world. And no one knew when it would end.

But people are survivors. A hardy stock decided to move to parts of the country that had not been hit quite as hard. Many moved to the Midwest but many more continued to the West. The Year Without a Summer just might be why your ancestors became pioneers. Today, many scholars believe that this very event is the one of the biggest reasons for the westward expansion in the United States. 

Albert Bierstadt Oregon Trail