The Plymouth weekly Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1860-1869, 1869-07-22
An OVERLAND TRIP TO OREGON.

Nothing can exceed the excite meu
which always attends the arrival of tn,
construction train at Corrinne. Lon.
lines of stages drawn mp with thei
drivers shouting vociiGrously the merit
Of their line. and the dement's of al
others. John Chinamaa running dis
tractedly through the crowd with ihei
long tails in search Of LIST bundles
scolding women. fretting over smashed
band boxes, and lost trunks, frighten
ed children, stern looking men with ar
official cast of countenance. shouting
this way gents-'eres tie place fol
your baggage. IF it is not hrough,
here it won't 90. that's all ""Oh quick
gents, stages behind time" "All right
Cap, you won't get to Monument Point
before dark" Names gents. Smith
Brown. Jones, johnson. all seated an
off goes stage number one. pile in
gents, Monument Point, Wells Fargo.
get there a5ont dark. Smith, Jones.
dammit why didn't you saw so. Salt
Lake, White Pine, all aboard fix them
tugs, buckle them up to D, times pre-
cious gents, DOVE from that to1 seat.
you sir. place engaged" "She'll hold
one more steady Charley. whoa Bob.
baggage all in sir's, aye. aye sir. all
seated and eff goes Sta.e mum Der three
until thanks to Providence that vou are
out Of tho noise and confusion of that
depot at Corrine. So far as the roads
were concerned they were like the earth
before the creation. without for,u al d
void, as full of holes az a,aae bottom
ed chair. and in many places they were
so croC ked they resembled the contor-
SONS of an uurang -outang in the stages
of the collie. and holes large enough to
swallow up dozen stages and twice as
many horses, without inconvenience If
need be; and the stages arc all fear fully
if not wonderfully made Frescc ed
with the encrus'ed mud of ages, the
par;s seem to stick together rurelv
from DID friendship and habit. there
nothing else visable to hold them to-
gether. they generally have no back.
and nothing to hold on by. and the
seat covered with a glazed and thread
hare piece OF enameled cloth. slick as
ice. and room for two small ler>ons if
they sit close to-get er. Imagine such
a conveyance tearing over roads such as
| have described with as n general
thing. 10 inside. 6 on top, 3 on the
drivers seat, and YOU have he machine
which they call in this country an over
land stage Here. staging and teaming
is the leading business. and Transfers
an stage drivers are the Leading pub
lie characters.
The Iangua &c spoken by these men
is a mixture or jargon of OK, horse. and
niue talk: with strong preronderence of
human blasphemy. As most pas>en
gers prefer an outside seat. except when
it storms, you should at once make the
acquaintance and get into the good
eraces of the stage driver ] GOT a top
seat by our driver by virtue of trans
parent pocket pistol which | had in my
possession labeled for Pixies Peak which
| offered him. Before we had gone
two miles. he had discharged the great
or part of the contents down his throat
If you should in any way incur the dis
pleasure of the driver, [ caution you
not to try to get an outside seat be.
cause you will fail 10 make an impress
ion. lie will put you inside, if you suit
he will say Climb up Cap" and then
he viii, give you discripti Of every
free fight. pretty girl, stage driver,
shooting ARRAY and bad rut On the road
Our driver was Timothy OF course
everybody knows Old Tim, us he is ia
mill ry called The same Old Tim
who has been stage driver all his life
Travelled on all sorts Of roads, driven
all sorts Of people. been over every
stage line IN California. Oregon and
Nevada. and never capsized anybody.
but himself and on that unfortunate
occasion he proke both legs, or as he
expressed it to me, cracked his pegs.
| was proud to sit by the size of Old
Tim. Of course everybody had i'm
pici' faith in him fo- surely the way
he handled the lines and drove his
magnificent chesnuts, all mules, was
enough to inspire confidence 10 the
most incredulous. Many times on the
route where the ro,d tipped consider
ably and We passed horrible places, /
L. I.l. la IL tLo nt....a