Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1876-09-30
From the Cumberland Cioilsan.l
Something About the Old Stage
. Coach.

Coach.
Half a century hence many Of the
institutions that were in the early
days of some of our present elderly
citizens shall have passed from the
knowledge of mankind; and even now
the particulars attainable of events
that happened here forty or fifty years
ago are meagre and often uncertain.
With the object in view of prsserv-
ing at least a fragment of the history
of the old stage coach business of this
country, the following incomplete mar
rative of that once important feature
in the trade of Cumberland and the
towns on the principal roads, is SUBJ
mitted to the press.
Before alluding to the particular
time and place in question, the fol-
lowing short retrospect of the history
of wheeled conveyances is given:
Going back to the earliest time that
we have any record of wheeled con-
veyances, we find that chariots were
in use by the Pharoahs of Egypt; and
that In Solomons time they were ex-
ported to Syria. These chariots en-
bodied the same principles which are
found in the modern style carriages
though the close covering of the lat
ter was not then known. They were
used for travelling carriages by per-
sons of rank. The war chariot used
In those times, was, writers who have
studied the subject inform us, a kind
Of cart with raised seA f6r the war
riors. Later on coversa carriages
highly ornamented became append
ages of Roman pompf aid magnif-
cence; but under thesfsudal system
they were banished "a Mount of
their tendency to1snd the people
effeminate. Duri4gihs middle ages
the only ridingpracti was on horse
back, and we hear Slittls. or nothing
more of wheeled conssyances until the
10th century, when the German prin-
ces appear to have visdswsih each in
the number and sp1endor of their
equipages, and the use of coaches ex-
tended to all tho countries of Europe,
though the narrowness of the streets
and the want of carriage roads were
serious impediments to their introduc-
ton. The word car was the name
then applied to the vehicles. The
word coach is probably derived from
the Hungarian kotse, an ancient
name of village in the county of
Wieselburg, in which coaches were
made in the 10th century. !.
Up to the middle of the last CEN
tury the only public conveyances
used in England for the conveyance of
passengers through the interior were
cumbersome stage wagons, used for
carrying goods, in the toll of which,
as it was called, was covered space
for six or eight persons. But about
the year 1854 very great improve
ment was made in this direction, and
a regular line of "two-end-glass
coaches, hung on steel springs" was
established, the terminii of the route
being London and Glasgow but it
was not until the beginning of tho
10Th century that "post," or stage
coaches were brought into perfection,
and then that work was done in the
United States. Before the introduc-
tion of railroads these coaches were
largely employed upon the public
roads, and the demand for them in
all sections of the United States caus-
ed large establishments for their man
ufacture to grow up.
The first line of coaches that took
in Cumberland, was established by
James Resides, about the year 1920,
and the line was known by his name.
The route extended from Cumberland
to Baltimore, and pursued for some
miles from here the old War road,
the same probably that was surveyed
by Washington, and used by Brad
docks army. The National pike was
just being made at that time, and the
old War road was rough, and in bad
weather sloughsy.
The vehicles first used on the Rec
sides line were the two-horse hackney
coach afterwards three horses to each
coach were employed, and still later
elegant four-horse coaches were sub
stituted for these latter. -.
Mr.. Resides enjoyed a monopoly
of the traffic in his business until