Although stagecoaches are most often associated with dusty trails of the western frontier 
, stages played a starring role in early transportation in areas of the South and Northeast — Wachovia's back yard — as well.
"The finest vehicles in the world without any dispute are stagecoaches," a Boston newspaper declared in 1825. And at the time, they were. After all, these vehicles, the first public transportation, carried "the young and old, the rich and the poor, the great and small, male and female, of all ranks and conditions."
Stagecoaches also carried mail. The Post Office of the young United States encouraged mail delivery along newly-constructed post roads, and designed "United States Mail Stages" to carry out the job. A growing network of stagecoach lines covered mail routes from New England to Virginia and into the southern states.
In the 1820s, stagecoaches traveled the "Upper Road," on a regular schedule from Fredericksburg, Virginia, thru Greensboro, Salisbury, and Charlotte, North Carolina, en route to Laurens, South Carolina. Other stage lines connected Nashville, Tennessee, and Huntsville, Alabama; Charleston, South Carolina and Augusta, Georgia; Fayetteville and Wilmington, North Carolina; Louisville, Kentucky and Vincennes, Indiana; and hundreds of other towns and cities.
By the 1850s, early railroads added some new transportation options, but where the Iron Horse did not run, horse-drawn stagecoaches still carried passengers and the mail to most towns. Stages traveled at an average speed of about five miles per hour. In 1858 the 197-mile journey by railroad and stage between Montgomery and Mobile, Alabama still took a grueling 33 hours. Horse teams were changed at relay or swing stations about every 12 miles, while taverns providing meals and beds were spaced approximately 40 miles apart.
According to my colleague Bob Chandler, taking a trip on a stagecoach was definitely "an experience." He gives one traveler's colorful description of an 1868 stagecoach journey from Georgia to Alabama on our sister blog, Guided By History. Another colleague, Charles Riggs, shares some nice 1860s packing tips for those traveling on a stage....
Even after automobiles began to navigate roads in the early 1900s, stagecoaches continued to provide vital rural transportation. The last stagecoach line operating in Kentucky ran from Monticello to the Cumberland River town of Burnside in 1915. On this route, the stage operators used a 9-passenger Concord Coach, built by the Abbot-Downing Company in Concord, New Hampshire in 1895 — the same type of coach operated by Wells Fargo & Co. on its western stage routes in the 1860s.
The stage's original owner, J.B. Barbee of Columbia, Kentucky, bought the vehicle new from Abbot-Downing's factory in 1897 for $2,000. Barbee hitched up the coach on his stage line from Columbia to Campbellsville, Kentucky, a 20-mile trip that cost $1 each way. In 1901 C.H. Burton acquired the coach for his Monticello to Burnside stage route.
This stagecoach (Abbot-Downing coach #599) is now owned by Wells Fargo Bank, and is on display in our museum in Los Angeles, California. Wells Fargo also displays original 19th century stagecoaches at its museums in San Diego, San Francisco, Sacramento, Phoenix, Minneapolis, and Portland, Oregon. Additional historic coaches can be seen in bank buildings in San Diego, Seattle, Denver andFort Worth.
As for #599, museum curators use the historic coach to explain 19th century geography and transportation to the 6,500 school children who visit the museum every year. The kids also learn about geology, the California gold rush — part of the state's 4th grade history curriculum — money and banking. The museum tour also covers the transformation of Southern California from an agricultural Eden to movie industry Mecca a century ago, helping kids think about their environment differently than the urban metropolis they see today.
Of course, Wells Fargo's role in these developments is part of the story too. But the centerpiece of it all — and the thing the students remember best — is the hard-working stagecoach.
Very interesting post and a good read, too! Thanks for posting.
Will the ISG channel at Wachovia Securities be renamed Wells Fargo Advisors on May 1st? If so, will client statements and FA's business cards be rebranded?
I HAVE BEEN A CUSTOMER OF WELLS FARGO SINCE THE cOLUMBIA BANK TAKE OVER. SINCE 1988 OR 1989. I DON'T UNDERSTNAD THE GREEDY POSITION OF A ANK WHO WILL BE POSTING SUCH A HIGH PROFIT. DID IT EVER OCCUR TO YOU THAT INSTEAD OF JACKING UP THE FEES ON OVERDRAFT PROTECTION AND THINGS YOU THINK ARE MONEYMAKERS - THAT MAYBE YOU COULD OFFER your customers A LOWER DISCOUNTED HOME LOAN RATE BECAUSE WE ARE LOYAL CUSTOMERS, PEOPLE NOWADAYS JUST BANK HOP TO GET THE BEST DEAL OF THE MONTH. WHAT ABOUT LOYAL AND PREVIOUSLY HAPPY CUSTOMERS WHO ARE NOW FORCED TO SHOP AROUND ALSO SINCE THE CD RATES ARE POOR, THE CUSTOMER SERVICE IS POOR, BRANCH MAANGERS HAVE NO AUTHORITY TO WAIVE A SERIVICE CHARGE AS WAS RECENTLY TOLD THE SITRICT MANAGERS IS THE ONLY ONE TO HAVE THAT AUTHORITY, PLEASE RECONSIDER ALL YOUR LINE OF CREDIT FEES AND BANK CHARGES - IT WILL FORCE US TO LEAVE
Wells Fargo is a nickle-and-dime operation! Just spoke with a representative from WF Phone Bank--$6.95 for online bill pay, there's a fee for downloading your transactions through financial management software such as Quicken, and, you can't even transfer funds between your WF accounts and accounts held at other financail institutions. All of this is available and free with Wachovia. Wachovia customers beware!
Thanks for this nice post...
Regards,
LPO
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