Manifest Destiny - Wagons

Stagecoaches

Stagecoaches had carried travelers throughout the East from the time roads were wide enough to accommodate four wheels. By 1820 regular stagecoach service reached St. Louis, Missouri. But the dirt trails farther west had only been tackled by several two-wheeled wagons traveling west from Missouri in the 1820s and by one four-wheeled wagon, which made it to Fort Boise, Idaho, before falling apart in 1836. The first wagon train of emigrants left Missouri for California in 1836, beginning a large migration of people to the Oregon Country in the 1840s. Demand for overland passenger service soon became great enough to establish stagecoach service to the West.

Before the opening of transcontinental stagecoach lines, regional lines offered service in many areas throughout the West. By the mid-1800s stagecoach service was offered from Independence, Missouri, to Santa Fe, New Mexico; throughout the Willamette Valley in Oregon; and throughout the states of Texas and California. The routes offered people without livestock or the ability to travel on foot a way to get from place to place. The stagecoach lines of California, however, had a special purpose: they opened in response to the demands of gold rush miners, who would pay handsomely to transport gold and mail from the mines. James E. Birch, who had traveled to California from Rhode Island to seek his fortune in the mines, soon discovered he could make more money running a stagecoach line. He did very well carrying the miners' goods from mines near San Francisco to the city and newcomers to the mines. In the late 1840s and 1850s California was served by more than seven stagecoach lines.

Stagecoaches & The Overland Mail Company

In 1857 Congress, which was interested in establishing regular mail service between the Mississippi River and California, passed a post office measure. As the operator and owner of stage lines, steamships, and express companies in the East, John Butterfield knew the delivery industry well, and he won the contract to establish regular mail service in the West. Butterfield and his investors spent more than one million dollars to establish and grade roads, dig wells, and build stations every nineteen miles along the route. Under his efficient management, Butterfield's Overland Mail Company opened for service on September 16, 1858. The mail traveled from St. Louis to Tipton, Missouri, by train and was then transferred to stagecoach for the trip to San Francisco. Butterfield's line complied with the government's demand that service be "performed in good four-horse coaches and spring wagons, suitable for the conveyance of passengers, as well as the safety and security of the mails." But the twenty-four-day trip took a toll on passengers. In Throw Down the Box! George A. Thompson quotes Waterman Ormsby, a New York Herald reporter who was the first to ride the stagecoach line. Ormsby said of his trip, "I know what Hell is like, for I've just had twenty-four days of it!" Butterfield operated the Overland Mail Company for two and a half years until he retired.

Stagecoaches were not known for comfort. In Getting There: Frontier Travel without Power, Suzanne Hilton quoted one man's opinion about his stagecoach journey: "Dreary weariness comes over the coach-crowding passengers. The air gets cold. The road grows dusty and chokes you. The legs become stiff and numb. The temper edges. Everybody is overcome with sleep but can't stay asleep. Everybody flounders and knocks about against everybody else in helpless despair."

In addition to being uncomfortable, stagecoaches were vulnerable to attack. Robbers, called "road agents," stopped coaches, stole all the valuables, and sometimes killed passengers or drivers. Stagecoaches carrying bullion (bars of gold) from the mines were especially targeted. The most famous road agents were Black Bart, who terrorized stage lines in California, and Henry Plummer in Montana. But history has shown that the road agents' high jinks did not pay; thieves were generally either jailed or hanged for their efforts. Indians were another threat to stagecoach travel. Enraged by the further encroachment of settlers on their lands, the Sioux, Apache, and other tribes along the stagecoach lines attacked way stations and ran off horses.

Stagecoach Crime: The Infamous Black Bart

Though many bandits and gangs robbed stagecoaches, Black Bart earned special recognition as a highwayman because he robbed so many people, never fired a shot, and proved so elusive to the law. Black Bart robbed twenty-eight California stagecoaches between 1875 and 1883. Always masked in a flour sack with eyeholes and carrying a shotgun, Black Bart would demand that the drivers "Throw down the box!" After he collected the treasure from the express box, Bart would leave on foot. Twice he left behind a message in verse. According to Jay Monaghan's The Book of the American West, the poem Black Bart left at his fourth robbery read as follows:

I've labored long and hard for bread,

For honor and for riches,

But on my corns too long you've tred

You fine-haired sons of bitches.

---Black Bart

Soon Wells Fargo, California governor William Irwin, and the postal authorities collectively posted eight hundred dollars as a reward for Black Bart's capture and conviction. In 1883, detectives found a handkerchief with a laundry mark (a tag identifying a commercial laundry or cleaners), F.X.O.7, at the scene of a Black Bart robbery. This tag would prove to be the criminal's undoing. Wells Fargo detective J. B. Hume had long been on the lookout for evidence that would lead him to Black Bart. He ordered that San Francisco's ninety-one laundries be searched for the matching laundry mark. The search led him to C. E. Bolton. Thought to be the owner of a mine who lived in a nearby hotel, Bolton was a well-dressed man with a gray mustache and goatee. Detectives searched his room and found clothing with an identical laundry mark and poems in the same handwriting as those left at Black Bart's robberies. Bolton was soon convicted and was imprisoned at San Quentin on November 21, 1883.

Though Black Bart claimed while in jail that his name was Bolton and that he had been a captain in the Civil War, a Bible in his room in San Francisco was inscribed "Charles E. Boles, First Sergeant, Company B. 116th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, by his wife as a New Year's gift." Whether his name was Bolton or Boles will never be known. He was released from prison on January 21, 1888. Shortly thereafter some stage lines were held up, and rumors circulated that Black Bart was operating again. But soon the holdups and the rumors disappeared—as did any trace of Black Bart.

Western Wagons (Prairie Schooners)

It is a popular misconception that the Conestoga wagon played a role in the great westward migration towards territories like Oregon and California during the 19th century. Conestogas were too heavy to be pulled such long distances, and west-bound travelers turned instead to the sturdy covered wagons known as prairie schooners or “Western wagons.” These had flat bodies and lower sides than the Conestoga; their white canvas covers made the wagons look like sailing ships from the distance, earning them the “schooner” name.

Nothing contributed more to the success or failure of a Western wagon trek than the wagons that carried the pioneers across 2,000 miles of jolting wilderness. Pioneers needed wagons strong enough to haul people and supplies for five months or more. To outlast the rugged trail and months of wear, the wagon needed to be constructed of seasoned hardwood. Most pioneers used the typical farm wagon with a canvas cover stretched over hooped frames. A family of four could manage with a single wagon. It would be very tight on space since supplies would take up almost the entire space within the wagon. If they could afford it, many families took more than one wagon Most emigrants on the trail went West in their farm wagons, modified to take the punishment, while others bought rigs specifically built for the one-way journey.

A wagon had to be light enough to not over tax the mules or oxen that pulled it and strong enough not to break down under loads of as much as 2,500 pounds. For these reasons wagons were constructed of such hardwoods as maple, hickory and oak. Iron was used only to reinforce parts that took the greatest beating such as tires, axles and hounds. An emigrant wagon was not comfortable to ride in, since wagons lacked springs and there was little room to sit inside the wagon because most space was taken up with cargo.

The three main parts of a prairie wagon were the bed, the undercarriage, and the cover.
BED	UNDERCARRIAGE	COVER
The BED was a rectangular wooden box, usually 4 feet wide by 10 feet long. At its front end was a jockey box to hold tools.	The UNDERCARRIAGE was composed of the wheels, axle assemblies, the reach (which connected the two axle assemblies), the hounds (which fastened the rear axle to the reach and the front axle to the wagon tongue) and the bolsters (which supported the wagon bed). Dangling from the rear axle was a bucket containing a mixture of tar and tallow to lubricate the wheels.	The COVER was made of canvas or cotton and was supported by a frame of hickory bows and tied to the sides of the bed. It was closed by a drawstring. The cover served the purpose of shielding the wagon from rain and dust, but when the summer heat became stifling the cover could be rolled back and bunched to let fresh air in.