Arizona citizen. [volume] (Tucson, Pima County, A.T. [i.e. Ariz.]) 1870-1880, 1876-09-09

SAN Francisco, August 81, 1875.
One who rides from Tucson to San
Diego in midsummer, need never fear
forgetting the journey,-he will court
iforgetfulness in vain through his nat
ural life. The steady. continuous
lday and night stage ride, the terrible
heat, the hot sand blasts on the Cali
fornia desert flowing in as if from the
apartments of the lost, the seemingly
endless vistas of sand wastes and burn
ing mountain slopes, the wearisome
complaint or conversation of some fell
low-traveler keep weighing heavily and
more heavily on ones mental and ply
seal man, until he ceases to wonder
that the originator of the story con-
corning the Yuma soldier and his
blanket, thought there was something
in that story when he first got it up.
And under the condition of existing
affairs, the very unpleasant features of
this journey are irremediable. Moth
ling but a railroad can make the trip
a pleasant one and end the complaints
jof travellers. To be sure, a stage com
Ipany could put on line of the finest
Concord coaches and put six fine
horses before each coach and make
the trip very quickly and more CON-
Portable They could do this and fail
inside of six months or year, and leave
us without any certain and regular
means of conveyance. The business
lOf the line is a good one if economic
ally and carefully managed. We
must have stage connection with Cali
fornia. To be permanent, the manage
ment Of the line must have no flighty
notions of rushing business and max
/ ing unwarranted OUTLAWS 1t is one
thing to sit in stage and damn this
and that,-it is quite another to run
the stage yourself and preserve your
bank balance. There are some faults
in the present line of stages over the
! TucsOn-San Diego route, but they are
magnified by having to bear the blame
which should rest on the weather and
the elements generally. There are
one or two Of the smaller stages which
have perpendicular jerk, commenc-
ing in the tire of the coaches wheels
and permeating the whole structure
and its contents, until it finally deserts
the vehicle with a spasmodic, perpen-
dicular jerk, which is really about the
highest point Of perfection that jerk
can attain in this life. There must
needs be jerks in a stage-coach,-they
are put there when the coach first
IcOmes into existence by Divine Provi-
dence. The only option left to man is
an amelioration or combination or a.
dulteration of the various kin1s Of
jerk. The highest stage wisdom has
reached a point where the jerks are
successfully met by a combination jerk !;
the best stages are now built so that
when a perpendicular jerk starts in on
the vehicle, it is met halfway by horl-
zontal jerks coming sideways and end
ways through the coach. The jerks
meet in the center and break each
other, dissolving with a trembling SEN
sation throughout the whole. All
who have travelled over this route will
remember the little stages with the
perpendicular jerk, and will be glad
to know that these stages are to be
soon diSplaced,-they may be before
this is read. As they have been de
scribed to US, the new stages coming on
to this line and the equine and other
reorganization contemplated or com
pleted will remove all just complaints
of the travelling public. This same
public should bear in mind that IN or
der to be permanently prosperous, the
stage company is compelled to keep
strict business economy in view in all
contemplated Improvements.
Going over this route, the attention
of an observer is naturally attracted to
to the frequent change of stage drivers
and their qualifications and peculiari-
ties. A seat on the box alongside of a
born stage driver, is one Of the privil-
eyes of life. The stage driver from
Kenyon's to Transfers came near our
views Of perfection in his line. The
inside passenger can tell a change in
drivers ON the first roll Of the wheels.
The driver from KenyOn's west, took
the lines and from the start TO the close
of his trip, we doubt if there was more
than one bad jerk, and at that one, we
heard him profanely blame himself
instead of whipping the horses or
damning the road. He had IS fine a
team of four horses rs we care to ride
behind in 4 stage, until We realize on
certain investments, and he handles
the lines to perfection. Going at a
full gait, and meeting a heavy rut in
the road, ne would lift the team and
stage down and over that rut in such
"A way as not TO disturb the lightest
sleeper inside the coach lie scarcely
touched tho horses with his whip
Throughout. He seized every occasion
to voluntarily call the attention Of pas
sengers when nearing an object Of IN