Mo., which by this time had become quite an important staging center, the overland coaches for San Francisco starting semi-weekly from this point. At that time it was the terminus of the Missouri Pacific, the farthest western line of railway east of the Rockies. Here he went into the employ of Moore & Walker, and drove west on the Independence stage road. In 1859, after the close of the border-ruffian excitement in Kansas, he pushed on westward to Leavenworth, then the great metropolis of Kansas Territory, and began driving for the Kansas Stage Company on the old Fort Leavenworth and Fort Riley military road, between Leavenworth and Topeka. Most of the time for nearly two years in the territorial days of Kansas he drove into and out of Topeka, which has since become the state capital and one of the most beautiful cities of its size in the great West. Early in 1861, when the civil war broke out, the overland mail route was changed north to St. Joseph, Mo., but soon afterward Atchison was made the starting-point for the stages. In the latter part of that year Haynes was employed by this company, driving from a number of points on the great line between Atchison and the Rockies, until 1865, when he went to Salt Lake and began work on the Montana road. In 1866 he drifted out to California, and was employed by Wells, Fargo & Co. on the overland and Dutch Flat road, remaining there until 1868, when he returned to Salt Lake and began driving on the Montana road for Wells, Fargo & Co. In the spring of 1869 he was sent out on the west road between Salt Lake and Austin, Nev., and took charge of the last division, from Jacob's Wells to Shell Creek. In May, 1869, when the Union and Central Pacific railways were completed and formed the first transcontinental line, Haynes hauled off the stage stock on the "Overland" and put it on the Elko and White Pine road. White Pine at that time was one of Nevada's great silver camps. He then went to driving again, and  CHARLES C. HAYNES. Photo. 1865. |
Historic stage-coach owned and driven by C. C. Haynes. Page 292. continued until the fall of 1870, when he went into the
employ of the Northwestern Stage Company as division agent
from Elko, Nev., to Boise City, Idaho. On this important
line he had charge of 275 miles of road. In 1872 he was
transferred to the old reliable "Overland" from Boise City
to Kelton as division agent, and was in charge of that road
until 1875. He then went to the Pacific Slope and took
charge of the permanent road from the end of the Southern
Pacific to Bakersfield, Cal., for the Coast Stage Company.
He ran this line until the railroad was completed to Los
Angeles; then he came east as far as Battle Mountain, Nev.,
and ran a stage line of his own until 1879, to Tuscarora. He
then sold out and returned to Boise City, and again took
charge of the "Overland" road for Gilmer, Salisbury &
Co., until 1880, when he quit and went to the Wood River
country, where he secured a mail contract from Ketchum to
Sawtooth City and put into operation a stage line of his
own. After running it three months, he sold out and retired
to his ranch on Goose creek, where he lived until 1889. |
He bought the Dewey House at Shoshone, in 1889, and kept hotel until he was burned out, in November, 1890. During President Harrison's administration he was deputy United States marshal under Jo Pinkham until his term expired. Since then he has lived in Shoshone, where he is admired by every one. He enjoys a wide acquaintance between the Missouri and the Pacific. He has passed his three-score, and his head and beard are a silvery white. Most of his time is now spent in looking after his town property in Shoshone. He is the owner of one of the old Concord coaches built by the Abbot-Downing Company many years ago and naturally he is very proud of it. It is a handsome vehicle, not as historic as Buffalo Bill's celebrated Deadwood coach, but one of the finest turned out at the manufactory. The old vehicle is a little marred by Indian bullets and arrows; otherwise he keeps it looking as neat as the day it first came from the "Old Granite State." He runs this stage to the Falls of Shoshone, twenty-six miles, transporting tourists and others who desire to view the wonderful Niagara of the great Northwest and the charming scenery between the two points. The old six-horse coach now owned by Mr. Haynes has carried through the romantic and charming scenery of Idaho hundreds and thousands of people, many of them leading citizens from an parts of the country. In July, 1897, Hon. William J. Bryan and his wife and three children rode in it from Shoshone to Blue Lakes and Shoshone Falls, while the distinguished guest was on his trip to the Yellowstone Park. Concerning a previous journey he had made, Mr. Bryan wrote to the editor of the Shoshone Journal, under date of May 25, 1897, as follows: "Out driver, Capt. C. C. Haynes, was so experienced, and his six horses so fast, that the twenty-five mile coach ride across the lava- CHARLES C. HAYNES. Photo. in the '90's. |
covered plain was made in less than four hours, and neither tiresome nor unpleasant." Mr. Haynes has been married and has two sons. His wife (Mrs. Nancy R. Haynes) died at Salt Lake, April 16, 1894, aged forty-nine years. A handsome tribute was paid to her memory by the Shoshone (Idaho) Journal. It is learned that for years Mrs. Haynes had been a central figure in the religious and benevolent organizations of Shoshone, and there was no work which had for its object the benefiting of humanity in which she was not an active participant. Besides the good work she did in the church organizations, she was an earnest worker in the W. C. T. U., and an active member of Rebekah Lodge, I. 0. 0. F. On the overland stage line, in the '60's, there was no more competent, faithful or obliging driver than Charley Haynes. I knew him well, for we were both working for Ben. Holladay, the noted millionaire stage king. Hundreds of miles have I ridden day and night on the box with Charley, in all kinds of weather, over the Kansas prairies, along the Little Blue river, in southern Nebraska, and through the wild buffalo and Indian country on the Platte between Fort Kearney and Cottonwood Springs. That was over a third of a century ago, when we were both young men of the same age; but I remember the time as distinctly as if it were only yesterday. Many a time have I enjoyed listening to him while he related some of his early experiences after he began life for himself on the old Concord stage-coach. CON SMITH, one of the old stage men of early times, is now a resident farmer near Irving, Marshall county, Kansas. He was born in the State of New York, and is now seventy-four years of age. He came West in 1855, driving stage from Boonville to Tipton, Mo., for three years; from thence to Arkansas, driving from Fort Smith, on what was known as the southern or Butterfield stage line (the Overland Mail Company), on the Boston mountains to Sherman, Tex. The southern route having been discontinued on account of the war, in May, 1861, Smith came North to St. Joseph, Mo., where he took a position as driver on the Central Overland California and Pike's Peak Express line, then running from the Missouri river to California. His drive was from Guittard's Station to Hollenberg, the first station west of Marysville. In 1862 he enlisted in company H, Seventh Kansas |
CON. SMITH Cavalry, commanded by Colonel Jennison, serving his
country until October 4, 1865, when he received his
honorable discharge, and again entered the employ of the
Stage company. He drove for the Holladay overland stage
line, serving until he "threw down the lines" and began
farming. He has resided in Marshall county ever since he
quit staging, his home being near Irving. Mr. Smith has
surrounded himself with many good things, the fruit of
untiring industry. He has a family of children who are all
doing well for themselves in the upbuilding of their own
homes. In this he finds much solace and comfort, his life's
co-worker not long ago having passed to the "great beyond,"
and he is waiting hopefully for the meeting of the one who
made life so happy for the home that is now so lonely.
Looking back far into the years of hope and cheer, he feels
no pangs of regret, having never wronged any one, and that
the name of Con. Smith is gilt-edged with honor in all his
life's dealings with mankind. |
SAMUEL V. GETTS Photo. in early '70's. where he first began driving on the "Overland," working
on the eastern division until 1862. For the next four or
five years he was driving into and out of Denver. For
several months during the spring and summer of 1864 he drove
from Denver down the South Platte sixty miles to Latham
station. Early in June, 1867, he started for Salt Lake in
charge of an outfit of coaches for the stage company. Mr.
Getts naturally takes considerable pride in the fact that he
took the last mail in the gap that was carried by the
overland stage between the Union Pacific and Central Pacific
roads, the day before the golden spike was driven, May 10,
1869. The completion of the first transcontinental road
echoed the death-knell of the overland stage line, and Getts
went to Salt Lake, and from there drove to Ogden and Uintah
until the following winter. In 1870 he returned to Montana,
driving and superintending for Salisbury until the
completion of the Union Pacific's branch line into that
region, in 1883, wiped out that important stage line. He
then engaged in stock-raising, and has been following it
ever since. Mr. Getts is a married man and has two
daughters, one twenty-five and one twenty. Both are
graduates of good institutions and one is a teacher in the
Cascade public schools. |
other ways. The "Bishop" was in every sense a moral, conscientious, upright young man, a pleasing conversationalist, quite a good singer, and it was, often told of him that he could go into the pulpit and preach a pretty fair sermon. It was only when he was greatly exasperated that he sometimes indulged in anything bordering on profanity. He was a kind-hearted fellow, extremely generous, and universally liked by all who knew him. He died in Montana in the early '90's. Hon. W. N. Byers, the Denver pioneer and noted journalist, in an interview recently said: "I remember 'Bishop' West, a noted driver on the Idaho Springs, Georgetown and Central road. They used to call him deacon, though how he got the nickname I am sure I can't tell. He was a small man, and crippled. The front part of his feet had been frozen off. But he was as brave as they make them; calm, cool, and a splendid driver. One day he had a party of Eastern men in on the road to Idaho Springs. One insisted on sitting with the driver, and made himself offensive to 'Bishop' all the way up to the top of the mountain. He assumed to know all about staging, from his experiences in New England, and talked a good deal about the magnificent specimens of manhood which were employed as drivers in that part of the country. 'Bishop' looked at his leaders and said nothing. Finally they got to Virginia cañon, at the top of the ascent. 'Bishop' got out and put in the brake blocks. This amused the Eastern man very much, and he made various funny remarks about it. 'Bishop' said nothing, and they started down the steep descent. They flew along, a steep precipice on one side, and a high bank on the other. Then. it would change and be vice versa. The tenderfoot grew more and RODNEY P. WEST. Photo. 1864. |
more paralyzed. His extensive experience had not accustomed him to just that kind of a road. Finally, as the bank came around to his side of the stage again, he made one frantic leap and landed on the hillside. 'Bishop' never checked his horses. He drove into Idaho Springs and then drove on. Some hours later Mr. Tenderfoot followed on foot and had the pleasure of waiting for the next stage." LEW. M. HILL, one of the "Overland" drivers between Atchison and Denver, was employed in the early '60's on the three eastern divisions of the great stage line. In fact he was a driver and station keeper on the Little Blue and Platte rivers until the building of the transcontinental railway drove off the Concord stage-coach, and practically wiped out the main overland line. Lew. first began driving in Iowa when a young man, way back in the early '50's. In the later '70's and early '80's he went into the mountains of Colorado and was in the employ of the well-known Barlow & Sanderson Stage Company, whose lines extended all over southern and southeastern Colorado. For some time he drove between Alamosa and Del Norte, almost under the shadow of the most beautiful chain of mountains on the face of the globe--the charming Sangre de Cristo range. From Del Norte Hill drifted west across the continental divide, into the San Juan mining region, driving for a time in the early '80's on the line between Gunnison and Lake City, when those two mining towns were important places, and in their palmiest days. For upwards of a decade he drove out of and into most of the mining towns in the Gunnison country. After the Cripple Creek gold excitement broke out, and stage lines inevitably followed, and were the only means of public conveyance into that new camp, early in the '90's, Lew. went into the new El Dorado, and at intervals drove on all the stage lines centering in that wonderful mining district, up to the fall of 1894. After the second railroad had made its advent into the Cripple Creek camp, Lew. went back over the range to his home in Gunnison, where his family resided, and soon he was at the head of a stage line running from Gunnison into a new gold-mining camp located some twenty-odd miles to the southwest. Lew. Hill has had a somewhat varied experience. He has now passed his seventieth birthday, but he holds his age remarkably well. |
He is probably one of the oldest and, while not one of the most widely known, he is certainly one of the best-preserved and most careful drivers to be found in the Rookies. One of the noted old stage-drivers of long ago is "UNCLE CHARLEY" MANVILLE, residing in Arkansas. He has been driving for over sixty years. He was born in Ohio, and there he first learned to drive on the old national road. At an early day he was in Michigan, driving on the Detroit road from Howell to Lansing and from Grand Rapids to Kalamazoo. He was in Kansas as early as 1856, where he afterwards drove for the Kansas Stage Company. He drove out of and into Leavenworth in territorial days, thence began driving on the old Santa Fe trail, and not long thereafter was holding the reins of "fours" and "sixes" on the great overland line west of Atchison. For many years he drove in Alabama and Florida. Uncle Charley is now about eighty years of age, but is still vigorous, and can yet handle a wild stage team apparently as easy as when he was in his prime, a third of a century ago. WILLIAM A. COCHRAN, of Holt county, Missouri, was born at Farmington, Iowa, April 4, 1842, and raised at Winchester, Ill. In the spring of 1861 he moved with his parents to Kansas, and went to work, though but nineteen years of age, driving stage for the Overland Mail Company. In this he continued until the completion of the Union Pacific railway across the continent, in the spring of 1869. While he was in the employ of the "Overland" he drove on five different divisions between Atchison and Salt Lake City. He also drove one winter in the '60's from Nebraska City to Saltello, seven miles south of where now Lincoln, the capital of Nebraska, is located. During the winter of 1864 he ran as "rough-locker" over Bridger's Pass, between Sulphur Springs and North Platte stations. He was on the Texas trail in the early '70's, and has since that time spent several years in southern Kansas. Mr. Cochran holds his age remarkably well, and would easily pass for a man not over fifty. He is a brother of Congressman Cochran, of St. Joseph, and also of A. P. Cochran, an old resident and respected citizen of Atchison. It is a treat to sit down and talk with Cochran about the "Overland" and the lively days of staging across the plains. |
TOMMY RYAN was one of the original "Overland" boys, having driven on the first semiweekly mail route--the Butterfield line--which went into operation September, 1858, starting west from St. Louis. In 1861, in company with Frank Van Horn, he was one of the party to drive the stock from the southern route across the country to the central route. He drove a long time in Kansas, on the eastern division of the Central Overland California and Pike's Peak Express route, between Seneca and Guittard's station. In the fall of 1862 he was employed in driving between Denver and Central City, on one of the most rugged and picturesque mountain stage roads in the Rookies. In 1863 he drove in Colorado, from Junction, on the Bijou, at the east end of the toll-road cut-off, to Valley Station, 150 miles east of Denver, down the South Platte. He afterwards drove in the mountains to Bitter Creek and to Point of Rocks; later, from the head of Bitter creek to Sulphur Springs; still later he drove from Denver east to Living Springs, on the cut-off. Some time afterward he turned up in eastern Nebraska, still driving for Ben. Holladay, but on a branch line on the Nebraska City and Fort Kearney road between Saltello and Beaver Crossing, thence from Nebraska City to Saltello. After the stock on the latter route was taken off, in the summer of 1866, Ryan then drove from Cheyenne southwest to Virginia Dale, the latter station on the stage route between Cheyenne and Denver. Later he turned up again at Nebraska City, having bid adieu to stage-driving, and engaged as brakeman for the Burlington & Missouri River road, where he has been for over a quarter of a century, having been in constant employ of the Burlington, and, for many years, as conductor from Nebraska City to Lincoln. BALAAM FOX, residing in the suburban village of Oakland, Kan., adjoining the city of Topeka, is an old stage-driver. Besides, he served his country in the civil war, enlisting in the Seventh Missouri Infantry. He was born sixty miles east of the Mississippi, in Illinois, and came to Kansas in the '50's, about the time Buffalo Bill came. In 1860 he was on the plains, a bearer of dispatches for Col. E. V. Sumner, First United States Cavalry, from the early spring until late in the fall. He rode from headquarters Fort Riley to Denver via Forts Zarah, Larned, Dodge, Lyon, Wynkoop. In 1865 he was on the old Santa Fe trail, driving |
stage on Raton mountains from Gray's ranch, on Picket Wire river, Colo., to McDowell's ranch, on Red river, in New Mexico, a distance of thirty-seven miles. The road was a rough and crooked mountain trail and at times the trip was lonesome. For four months he drove a five-mule team over it both ways in the night. Barlow & Sanderson, then the noted stage men of the Southwest, ran this line, which was equipped with the celebrated Concord coaches. Fox was afterwards transferred farther to the Southwest, driving for some time in the sand-hills, near the Arizona line, from Sabanil to Socorro, N. M. In the latter part of 1865 he went into the employ of Ben. Holladay, the overland stage man, and for seven months drove eight-horse teams from Snake River, Idaho, to Helena, Mont., a distance of seventy-five miles. He has had a good deal of rough experience one way and another on the plains, since he first drifted out on the frontier. In the '50's he drove an ambulance for General Harney, at the time the latter had the bloody engagement with the Brule Sioux Indians. In this fight General Harney annihilated, at Ash Hollow, on the North Platte, over 500 of the murderous savages. For the next five years, previous to his staging career, Fox was on the plains, part of the time in the employ of the Government, and the balance of the time driving ox and mule teams for Russell, Majors & Waddell, the noted overland freighting firm. |
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