Stagecoaching in Pioche
Story by Cowboy George
Pioche had, in it's heyday, four different stage lines.
One was operated by Gilmour & Sullivan from Salt Lake to Beaver, from Beaver to Pioche, with stops at Greenville, Adamville, Minerville, Sulpher Springs, Mt. Springs, Desert Springs, Clover Valley, Bullionville, Bennett Springs, then Pioche.
Another route was from Hamilton to Oceola down the west side of Mt. Wilson to Pioche. This trip took two days one way. The trip was made two times a week. This route had stage stops at different ranches along the way to change horses and eat. Always a four-up team was used. The average distance a team could pull would be about 15 miles, except in rough, hilly country. Sometimes the team would do only about two miles an hour, due to rough country.
The third route was from Hamilton to Pioche. It was operated by Gilmour and Salisbury.
This route was changed several times due to the fact that new silver camps were springing up all the time. Some of the camps hit by the Hamilton to Pioche stage were Sunnyside Mineral City, Cave Valley, Patterson, Bristol, Jack Rabbit, and Royal City. In the late 1860s when the stages started to run to Pioche, it is interesting to note that Wells Fargo was already out of the stagecoach business. Freighting was the main business of Wells Fargo. All stage lines hauled freight for Wells Fargo, and some of the stage companies still carried the name of Wells Fargo on their stage.
The fourth line was from Bullionville and Panaca to Pioche and back--two times a day.
After 1865, the Salt Lake to San Francisco Railroad was built linking the country by rail. It wouldn't be until 1905 that rail would be introduced to Southern Nevada.
The mud wagon was the best coach for travel between camps. It was 1,000 lbs. lighter than the Concord. The mud wagon weighed about 2,000 lbs. compared to about 3,000 for the Concord. From the railhead at Palisades, Nevada (close to Elko), it would take two and a half days to traverse the distance between the railhead and Pioche. A strong 6-up team was always used on this run.
The Concord Stage was built in Concord, New Hampshire, by Abbott & Downing. The Concord was designed after the egg for strength. Some stages were still running in 1920 with a life-span of 70 years. The body of the coach was built of the best cured oak attainable. It rested on leather straps made from three bull hides. This was called the thorough brace suspension system. This gave the coach a rocking motion like that of a ship--cushioning the coach when it hit ruts and ditches. The wheel was made from three different types of wood; oak for the fellies, hickory for the spokes, and ash for the hubs.
The modern-day tire got it's name from the wagon wheel. The metal rim that surrounded the wood wheel was called the tire because it tied the wheel together.
The best horses and the worst horses were used. On the Eastern line and around cities, beautiful matched teams were used and as the coaches got further west, the worse the horses got. It wasn't unusual to put unbroken blindfolded horses into harness.
The driver gave the signal and the blindfolds were removed. And then the driver let fly a couple of choice words with the crack of his whip and the horses didn't stop running till the next stop.
The stagecoach trip was anything but fun--it was living hell! Mark Twain describes a journey in Nevada: "We wallowed through 40 miles of bottomless sand, into which the coach sank a foot. We worked our passage most of the way, which is to say that we got out and walked. Powdery white alkali dust floated above the plain like smoke. Everything, passengers, sagebrush and scenery were all one monotonous gray color."
Another traveler described his trip in a mud wagon: "Three in a row, we would solemnly rise from our seats and bump our heads against the roof. Most of us got some sleep, somehow, but upon awakening we would find ourselves lying across each other. One poor fellow went mad from lack of sleep!"
Episcopal Bishop Daniel Tuttle tells us of a trip he took that lasted for three days and three nights: "During the last 50 miles I was completely used up physically. I was past the point of gritting my teeth and enduring. All of my resistance was beaten down. I was ready to cry and would not have offered the least resistance had the driver dumped me down on the roadside and left me behind, under a sage bush. That trip made me understand the stories I had heard of passengers who could not sleep and who had become demented."
To add to the excitement of riding in a stagecoach, we had runaway horses, wind storms, snow storms, cold weather, bugs, dust, vomit, Indians, over-crowded coaches, and last but not least, the stagecoach robber.
The story goes that the incoming stage was robbed just outside Pioche. Two hours later, when the stage left Pioche, it was robbed again--by the same robber. So often had the stages been robbed in and around Pioche, that it was necessary to pour the silver being shipped into 200 lb. bars. The only way the riches left Pioche were by horseback or stage. It wasn't unusual for the stage to be carrying $200,000 to $300,000 in silver.
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The Ghost Town Gazette:
02/01/06 06:54 PM