Description: Reverse reads: "In the time before railroad trains and automobiles were invented people traveled from one town to another in such a public conveyance as this coach. This particular type of coach was used as the trains are used today, a set rate was paid for every miles traveled. It was this coach that carried the early gold hunters across the great western prairies from Dodge City, Kansas, to San Francisco. These coaches all belonged to the Wells Fargo company who also owned and operated the Pony Express. One the inside of the coach six people could sit. This was considered the safest and most comfortable place to ride and was usually occupied by the women. On top, of course, was the driver who had the responsibility of the team of four or sometimes six horses. Usually there was at least one guard who rode with the driver, whose responsibility it was to see that bandits, both Indian and White did not molest the coach and its valuable cargo. The coaches were not as comfortable as they could have been. The seats were upholstered in leather, as a general rule, but the springs were made either of leather straps or very crude hand forged iron. It was difficult to turn the coach sharply or guide it very carefully since the body set on the axels and was not provided with wheel wells. These wheel wells were indentations in the body of such a cab which could have allow- ed the wheels to turn either to right or left much more freely. However, they were not to come for a considerable time as yet. So instead of having these wells, the axles were made very wide to enable the coach to turn more quickly. The passenger's belongings and freight were stowed in the little pen which is located on top of the cab. Additional freight could be fastened to a platform in the back of some of the coaches underneath the driver's seat. Of course, travel by this method was both dangerous and slow. The coach traveled only during the daytime, staying at wayside inns at night. The roads were poor, often only a patch across the plains. It was not particularly unusual to have a stage come into the town, the horses in full gallop, foam flecked and red eyed with fright. Often too they wrought the driver or guard or perhaps a passenger wounded or killed in an encounter with robbers or Indians. The passengers all went armed, as a matter of course, and often a running fight would take place with the lawless men of the plains. The days of Buffalo Bill Cody and the Wells Fargo Express were days of quick fortunes and quicker poverty, of a vast empire of gold and silver and rolling Oregon farms, a day which changed but did not entirely die with the coming of the Iron Horse." View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B11F03_34_001
Subjects: Stagecoaches; Models
Places: Ohio