What were stage coaches used for?
A stagecoach is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses.
How far did stagecoaches travel between stops?
The average distance between them was about 160 miles. The driver on the eastbound stage would meet the driver of the westbound stage at a timetable station and they would exchange mail and passengers and turn back.
When did stagecoaches stop running in America?
The last American chapter in the use of the stage coaches took place between 1890 and about 1915. In the end, it was the motor bus, not the train, that caused the final disuse of these horse-drawn vehicles.
Where were the best stagecoaches built?
Most of the regional service stagecoaches were manufactured in Concord, N.H., along the classic “Concord Coach” lines. They had padded leather seats, a thorough braced suspension to buffer the bumps of the harsh, unpaved roads and an improved braking system.
How much did train tickets cost in the 1800s?
Passenger train travel during the 1880s generally cost two or three cents per mile. Transcontinental (New York to San Francisco) ticket rates as of June 1870 were $136 for first class in a Pullman sleeping car, $110 for second class and $65 for third, or “emigrant,” class seats on a bench.
Why do they call it a stagecoach?
Coaches that carried passengers became known as “stagecoaches” because they stopped to rest at stage stops along the way. Stops were made along the way at rest stations, or “stages,” for fresh horses and food for the passengers. Thus the name of “stagecoach.”
How often did stage coaches get robbed?
Of the roughly 200 stage robbers, 80 have been identified—79 men and one woman. John Boessenecker’s latest book Shotguns and Stagecoaches, out this fall, focuses on the heroes who guarded Wells Fargo’s stagecoaches and trains. He says Wells Fargo stages were robbed nearly 350 times between 1870 and 1884.
How many horses did it take to pull a stagecoach?
But normally not more than 15 miles from the last stop.7,8 That meant a horse would pull the stagecoach for about a two or three hour shift. The horse team required 4 horses by government contract.8 Sometimes there was a 6-horse team, and sometimes the team consisted of mules.
Who was the first stagecoach driver to whip his horses?
When a road agent ordered the stage to stop and commanded Charley to throw down its strongbox, Parkhurst leveled a shotgun blast into the chest of the outlaw, whipped his horses into a full gallop, and left the bandit in the road. One-eyed Charley was known as one of the toughest, roughest, and most daring of stagecoach drivers.
What was the name of the team that pulled the stagecoach?
Swingers – If a team had six animals, the two in the middle were called swingers and were easily controlled by the other two pairs as they did their work leading or stabilizing. Team – The horses or mules pulling the stagecoach, usually consisting of four to six animals.
When did the stagecoach stop being used for cross country travel?
Stagecoaches, drawn by horses or mules (primarily), were the most important means of long-distance, commercial, cross-country transportation in the 18th and 19th centuries – at least before the arrival of the railways. They had existed, in a limited way, in the 17th century, and they did not completely vanish until the early 20th century.
