Page:Historical and Biographical Annals of Columbia and Montour Counties, Pennsylvania, Containing a Concise History of the Two Counties and a Genealogical and Biographical Record of Representative Families.pdf/66

 COLUMBIA AND MONTOUR COUNTIES tap*room floor, paying a small Ice for the privi­ lege. liirforc retiring many potations were in* dulgcd in, and from the resulting battles the old "w agon inns" gained their hard names. These wagons a lte r the development of rail­ roads in this State became the "prairie schoon­ e rs " of the West, and bore many an emigrant and his household to the fa r distant homesteacls o f that portion o f our country. STACBCOACII DAYS

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T he first coach w as made in England in 15 5 5 by W alter Rippcn fo r the E a rl o f Rutl^ d. Eight years later he made one for Queen Elizabeth. 'ITie early English stage­ coaches were clumsy things, without windows o r scats, but necessity soon developed them into the fine vehicles o f later years. These vehicles were imported into the Colonics in 1737, but the colonists were compelled from the nature of the country to develop their own conveyances. In 170 5 a stage line ran from Philadelphia to N ew Y o rk, the fare being four dollars. T he vehicle had four benches, without backs or cushions, placed across the interior, the pas­ sengers being compelled to climb over each other to get to the back seat, the coveted one, owing to the opportunity to rest the back against the rear of the coach. Leather cur­ tains covered the top, and the passengers had to stow their baggage under the seats, where it shifted at every move of the lumbering coach. Having no springs, this vehicle was one to create terror in the heart of the unfor­ tunate traveler who had a long journey before him. T he coaches o f 18 18 had "thoroughbracc.s” fitted to them, which made the motion much easier. These were leather straps, by which the body of the coach w as suspended from hickory* liows. A t this date the coach also had a seat for (he driver, with a footboard, and had a trunk-rack bolted 10 the rear. Many other mollifications were from time to time made in (he coaches, all o f which were super­ seded by the famous Concord coach, first built in Concord, N . H ., in 1827. T h is famous coach IS still (he mo<lc1 for vehicles o f its class at the present time. T he word ’’stagecoach” strictly applies to a vehicle fo r the transportation o f passengers over a route at different stages o f which the horses are changed, and the word "omnibus” indicates a coach u s ^ for short distances. The first stages from Philadelphia to N ew Y ork made the trip in three days, but later the trip

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w as made in much shorter time. The National koad was a famous coaching route, at one time four lines o f coaches being run upon it. The coaches in this section of the State were o f simitar character to those elsewhere, but the roads were not as good and the hilts more steep. T he rivalry between the different lines w as great and in many instances the w ar­ ring drivers cut the rates to almost nothing in order to drive their ris%als out o f business. Upon the patronage of these stage lines and their passengers depended the prosperity of many of the towns o f Columbia and Montour counties. The village o f N ew Columbus (just over the line in Luzerne county) was founded especially to cater to the coaching traffic, but failed a(nK>$t in birth, owing to (he advent of the railroads. The journey by stagecoach w as a mixture o f pleasure and pain. T he autumn w as prob­ ably the best time to travel, for then the roads had settled to their best condition. In summer the dust so co'cred the passengers that some­ times one could not tell the color of their gar­ ments. In winter and spring the coaches sank to the hubs in the soft soil of the poor roads, or bim|>ed over the loose stones of the turn­ pikes. It seemed to be adding insult to injury to demand toll from the passengers for a journey over such highw*ays. And the tollgates seemed to appear at remarkably frequent intervals. There w as one curious and most depressing condition o f stage travel. It seemed no mat­ ter how little or how long the journey was, nor where the destination, the coach alw ays started at daybreak, or before. The traveler had to rise in the dark, dress by (he feeble illumination o f a tallow dip, and start out in the cold, depressing gloom of the early dawm, without breakfast. A s most deaths occur in the early hours before dawn, it is surprising that the poor travelers o f those days did not gladly shulfle o ff this mortal cotl to evade the terrors of the journey before them. Some­ time later in the morning the breakfast post would be reached, and something warm taken within, just as the victim had almost de­ spaired o f keeping alive the vital spark. It w as no unusual thing for the coach to make ten miles ere the travelers were given their breakfast. From three to five in the morning were the starting hours of the coaches, and the journey often lasted until eight at night. In such a journey many miles could be oovercd in a day.