Shandidran
"Though we all rose up early, packed, and were ready to proceed, there was an unusual vis inerlice on the part of the driver: Indians were about; the mules, of course, had…
"Though we all rose up early, packed, and were ready to proceed, there was an unusual vis inerlice on the part of the driver: Indians were about; the mules, of course, had…
"Holladay now managed the firm as the Overland Stage Line, although he continued its operation under the Kansas charter of the 'C. O. C.' until February, 1866, when be obtained a new charter…
"During the previous winter [1860] the company tried sled runners, the Leavenworth Conservative of February 8 asserting: 'The Pike's Peak Express Company made the lost trip from Denver to Leavenworth on runners…
"The first through daily coaches on the Central route left St. Joseph and Placerville simultaneously on July 1, 1861, and both arrived at their destination on July 18, in a few hours over…
"The regular correspondent of the St. Louis Missouri Democrat went over the line in June, 1861, and wrote from Denver to his paper (issue of July 9): 'Taking into consideration the distance…
"With the 'gentlemanly' express messenger, J. S. Stephens, and the driver, a total of 11 people rode this coach, including two children. A traveler who arrived at Denver in August, 1860,…
"He [the stagecoach driver] can do nothing without whisky, which he loves to call tarantula juice, strychnine, red-eye, corn juice, Jersey lightning, leg-stretcher, 'tangleleg,' (for instance, 'whisky is now tested by the…
"The 'ripper,' or driver, who is bound to the gold regions of Pike's Peak, is a queer specimen of humanity. He usually hails from one of the old Atlantic cities in fact,…
"The rate of travel on an average is five miles an hour; six is good; between seven and eight is the maximum, which sinks in hilly countries to three or four. I have…
"'I tell you it's as much as Slade himself wants to do !' This remark created an entire revolution in my curiosity. I cared nothing now about the Indians, and even…
"The stage-coach traveled about a hundred to a hundred and twenty-five miles a day (twentyfour hours), the pony-rider about two hundred and fifty."
"We resumed undress uniform, climbed a-top of the flying coach, dangled our legs over the side, shouted occasionally at our frantic mules, merely to see them lay their ears back and scamper faster, tied…
"Shortly after the Captain Reassumed Command of the Post, he and I were invited to the stage station, one day, for dinner. There was a long table with about ten on each side.…
"All the time that my brain was wandering in this pleasant fog of confused ideas, my feet were carrying me out of the troubled times of '49 and into the…