Vigo County Historical Society
Historical Treasure Article

August 1, 1993
By Helen F. Mitchell
Vigo County Historical Society

Stagecoaches added color to travel

This little stagecoach model brings to mind one of the most colorful and exciting periods in American History.

Stagecoaches ruled the roads from the Gold Ruse days of 1849 until the turn of the century. They were graceful in design, painted in bright colors with shiny metal trim on coach and harness. They were drawn by matched teams of four or six horses and were driven by the most expert reinsmen of the time. Teams and drivers were given special names and the names of the fastest became famous.

Transportation always has been the key factor in expanding the limits of the known world. During the stagecoach era roads were built across the midsection of America, eventually connecting the eastern and western seaboards. As the coaches rolled across the plains, thousands of new settlers came to live in the vast areas between the mountains and the oceans.

As one views the little stagecoach it is easy to imagine the diversity of the people who traveled in the real ones. Many kinds of people with many different reasons rode the trails, and, no matter how rough the trip, it was a rich and new experience. New friends were made, gossip was exchanged, and the current style of clothes worn by the women in the East became familiar to the women in the rest of the country.

The museum has very little information about the maker of or the donor of the stagecoach model. The person who created the model must have known something about the design of the stagecoach and the history of the trails. The coach has luggage racks atop and in back, carriage lights, shades at the windows and the leather sling in which the body of the coach rested. On the sides are painted the names St. Joe, Omaha, North Platte, Fort Laramie and Salt Lake City. These were all stops on the Overland Stage Line of the West.

The western routes were wild and offered such dangers as mountain roads, Indian attacks, swift rivers and frequent highway robbers. The coaches carried people, wealth and important mail, all of which the drivers tried to get safely to their destinations. This was not always easy with men like Ben Holladay, Jack Slade and Black Bart fighting for supremacy.

The eastern routes led the way to the Midwest section of the country. One of the routes followed the National Road and Terre Haute was one of the stops.

Riders were plagued with mud holes, strips of unfinished roadways and crowded conditions at the inns. The innkeepers were obligated to bed and feed all passengers, and this was sometimes almost impossible with as many as 20 coaches on the road. The inns, however, advertised, and as an inn sign might read like this:

This gate hands high
And hinders none,
Refresh and pay
And travel on.

A stagecoach inn was located at Terre Haute west of the Wabash River.

Although the drivers were instructed not to race, this did not stop the practice. Passengers were dumped in the road many times. Martin Van Buren and Henry Clay suffered this indignity.

In spite of all the hardships and discomforts of stagecoach travel, the rides were exciting, as the passengers usually were going someplace they had not been before. The stagecoaches played an important role in helping folks get together and in helping them get away from each other.

The stagecoach model, with its two hand-carved figures mounted on a double wood base, is on display in the hallway of the lower level of the museum.

The Historical Museum of the Wabash Valley, 1411 S. Sixth St., is open from 1 to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday.

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