The NM History Museum Stagecoach Presentation

 

Howdy, I am Ken, I am a guide at the New Mexico History Museum in Santa Fe. I am going to tell you

the story about the stagecoach we have in the museum.

 

 

 

What do you think of when you see a real stagecoach?

 

Stages being chased by Indians?

 

 

 

Or being robbed by bandits?

 

Think about what events might have happened to this stagecoach when it was in service!

 

 

 

 

 

The stagecoach in the New Mexico History Museum is a Celerity wagon or “mud wagon”. It can hold up to 9 passengers with the mail and baggage– 3 passengers facing backwards, 3 facing forward and 3 in the center seats sitting knee to knee. Pretty tight fit when everyone was in it!

 

There is a bench at the front top to hold two men- a driver and a guard. The roof is made of canvas as well as the curtains which can be rolled up or down. Some of the baggage was kept inside the carriage and some in the rear storage area. This particular coach came from Colorado.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A little history about New Mexico Before 1821

 

Between 1598 and 1821 New Mexico was Spanish.

 

Then in 1821 New Mexico changed hands from being Spanish to becoming part of the Republic of Mexico. With the change came new ideas about trade with the outside world.

 

The Spanish would arrest anyone who came into their territory and seize their goods. The Mexicans decided that to trade with people from the United States would be a good idea, since the traders from the U.S. could provide them with goods that they could not produce themselves.

 

 

 

 

 

In the Summer of 1821- First American to enter NM for trade was William Becknell. He and several other traders set out with pack horses from Franklin, Missouri to trade with Comanches. They found out about the new Mexican rule. They came over Raton Pass through Kearny Gap, which is outside of present-day Las Vegas, NM. where he met a Mexican contingent who welcomed him to come to Santa Fe for trade.

 

On his second trip he came with wagons on the "Cimarron Cutoff" by-passing Raton Pass which also became part of the Santa Fe Trail.

 

One thing to remember is that the Santa Fe trail was mainly a commercial route, whereas the famous Oregon Trail was an emigrant route by which settlers moved west.

 

Reliance on wagon trains for transportation of letters between Missouri and New Mexico took about two to three months depending upon the weather and the time of year to go the 800 miles to Santa Fe.

 

Carrying mail from the Eastern part of the United States to the West was the major function of the government. It became important as more and more Americans were moving West.

 

New Mexico’s early influence in carrying the U.S. mail began in 1848 when Kit Carson, whose home was in Taos, New Mexico carried the first U.S. mail from the Pacific coast to Washington, D.C. However, he didn’t come through New Mexico!

 

 

 

 

Later in 1850, the first regular 4-year government contract to carrying mail from Independence, MO to Santa Fe over the Santa Fe Trail used the Cimarron Cutoff.

 

 

 

The mail was carried in new, water-tight, beautifully painted stages pulled by a team of six mules. Dr. David Waldo, a Missouri merchant was the winner of the first contract.

 

Dearborn wagons and Jersey wagons or “mud wagons” which both had canvas tops and elliptical springs were probably the first ones used. These are opposed to the heavier all wooden Concord coaches with leather springs.

 

 

This first contract stated the trip was to take 29 days. The ride was not very comfortable. There were usually stops every ten to fifteen miles. They made “night camps” The first trip back from Santa Fe to Independence, MO took 7 weeks and 3 days.

 

 

The fare was $100 in the summer and $120 in winter for the complete trip

 

In 1853 the United States bought the Gadsden Purchase from Mexico for $10M allowing a snow-free route from the rest of the United States to California.

 

 

 

 

 

In 1857, the idea for the first Overland Mail Route was proposed by John Warren Butterfield and his associates one of whom was William Fargo, to connect St. Louis, Missouri with San Francisco, California. 

 

They agreed to a six-year contract at $600,000 per year to complete a semiweekly mail service between the two cities. The first stage carrying the mail for the East left San Francisco on September 15, 1858 and the westbound mail left St. Louis on the next day.

The East mail would be taken 160 miles from St. Louis to Tipton, Missouri by train then loaded on a stage for the rest of the trip. The goal was to traverse the distance of 2,795 miles in less than 25 days.

Before that time passengers heading for California had to leave the East Coast across the Gulf of Mexico to Panama, where they took burros across the Isthmus to the Pacific Ocean. From there they would take a steamer up the coast to California or go around Cape Horn on a steamer. The discovery of gold in California at Sutters Mill was the beginning the 1848 Gold Rush that brought many gold seekers out west. 

 

 

 

 

 

A mail service to the Pacific coast was established on March 3, 1847 with ships that could be converted to war use. The route went up and down both coasts, over the Isthmus of Panama by oxen and then boats. This service took between three and four months.

Many of the stagecoaches used on the Butterfield Overland Mail Route that went through most of the West were like the one in the museum. They were of the “mud wagon” type. They were usually pulled by teams of 6 mules or horses. Mules were stronger and horses were faster. 

 

The coaches covered about 120 miles in a 24hr. period - travelling both day and night. Teams would travel between 3 and 9 miles per hour depending upon the terrain.  There was a driver and a conductor or "shotgun" guard riding on the top of the coach. The entire trail was divided into nine divisions. Each division had a superintendent, the drivers and conductors and personnel to take care of the horses, mules and gear at each station. They would travel in one direction then take another coach in the opposite direction, staying in their own division. They were all men except for Charley Parkhust a woman who was only found out after her death after driving for thirty years! 

 

 

There were stations 15 to 20 miles apart (either "swing stations" where the teams were changed usually lasting about 10 minutes and "home stations" where meals and lodging were provided to passengers. The home stations had corrals, outbuildings maintenance/repair shops and crews' quarters; meals consisted of bread, green tea, coffee, eggs, biscuits, fried steaks of bacon, venison, antelope or mule flesh costing between $.75 and $1)

 

Each passenger could take up to 40lbs. of luggage without being charged extra. The original fare was $200 either way (about $5,714 today).

 

There were nine divisions between 462 and 192 miles long each taking between 80 and 11 hours to travel. The overall travel time was 24 days, 18 hours and 26 minutes for a total of 2,795 miles. Each driver would travel from one end to the other before going back along the same route.

 

There was definite stage coach etiquette:

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

 

2.  If ladies 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.

3. Gentlemen must refrain from the use of rough language in the presence of ladies and children.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. In the event of runaway horses, remain calm. Leaping from the coach in panic will leave you injured, at the mercy of the elements, hostile Indians and hungry coyotes.

8. Forbidden topics of discussion are stagecoach robberies and Indian uprisings.

9. 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

 

The American Civil War put a stop to the overland stage route in March 1861. The Confederate Army confiscated many of the stages and used them as military vehicles. Southern New Mexico became called Confederate Arizona.

 

 

In 1880 the railroads took over the transportation in New Mexico ending the use of stagecoaches to carry passengers and the U.S. mail.

 

 

 

Riding in a Stage 

Creeping through the valley, crawling o’er the hill, Splashing through the branches, rumbling o’er the mill, Putting nervous gentlemen in a towering rage. What is so provoking as riding in a stage?

Spinsters fair and forty, maids in youthful charms, Suddenly are cast into their neighbors’ arms; Children shoot like squirrels darting through a cage- Isn’t it delightful, riding in a stage? 

Feet are interlacing, heads severely bumped, Friend and foe together get their noses thumped; Dresses act as carpets-listen to the sage; “Life is but a journey taken in a stage.” 

— From: Six Horses by Captain William Banning & George Hugh Banning, 1928.