The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1878-02-14
OLD A COACH DAYS.
Carrying the Mails Between bal
timore and wheeling.

AAhitAt 81
A. NJ. Gibson, a Washington letter
writer, In one Of his letters to the New
York Sun says:
In 1886 Col. Reside turned his atten'
ton to the connections from Baltimore
westward. The National road between
Cumberland and Wheeling being then
about completed, he placed lines upon
that route 10 make the connection be-
tween the terminus OF the Baltimore 4
Ohio Railroad at Frederick aud the
steamboat service on the Ohio river al
Wheeling, and the stage lines running
west into Ohio and Indians. He reduced
The time Of transit from Baltimore 70
Wheeling to about iorty.eight hours
The road being new, the stone just broken
the teams employed usually. consisted oil
Eve horses, three in the lead and two al
the wheel. There was n strong opposition
between the lines Of Reside and Stock.
ton, and 1t waa frequently the scene oil
spirited races between the rival lines. Al
that date most ofthe freight for the West
was conveyed from Baltimore aud Fred.
erick to Wheeling and points in the West,
beyond, with the old fashioned Conestoga
wagon, which, together with the numer.
Gus droves Of cattle, sheep, and hogs
driven to market, frequently caused great
obstruction to the stage coaches In get.
ting by and through them. Those were
the days Of The good d.fashloned road.
side inn, where ~venison steaks, hot waf.
iles, corr cakes, aud coffee we're the boun.
teous repasls served up 10 tue hungry
traveller.
Competition being very great at that
time for the possession Of the mail con.
tract, Amos Kendall, then Postmaster
General, designed u wagon for the pur-
pose Of carrying the mall, independent Of
passenger travel, which was tried but n
short time and then laid aside, and the
mail placed upon the ordinary coaches.
Il frequently required three or four
coaches to transport IT, there being eften
US many rs fourteen lock bags and seventy
Two canvas sacks. Between 1887 and 1910,
Mr.. Kendall established an expreSsmail
TO carry letters and strips Of newspapers
between Washington aud St Louis, via
the National road, and Washington and
New Orleans, via Richmond, Augusta,
and Montgomery. Relays Of horees we're
arranged every nine miles, and letters
W~erecarried from Washington to New
Orleans 10 sixleen days.
The mail contract was desirable, be,
cause coaches carrying the mails had no
tolls to pay. The compensation ioEmail
service at that period vas at the rats Of
$50 per mile per anhum, the highest pay
then known IN the United States. Now
the Posloiiee Department IL paying for .
mail that doeS not weigh a hundred
pounds at the rate OF $500 per mile, on a
blackboard wagon drawn by u single
horse.
About 1916 the Baltimore and Ohio
Railroad reached Cumberland. The
travel over the National Road was then
greatly increased. Competing stage lines
were put on, and II was no unusual thing
10 see from fifteen 10 twenty coaches
leave and enter Cumberland twice aday.
There was corresponding Increase OF the
traffic by wagons, so that the saying OF
aForty wagons in q day entering Wheel.
ing became d proverb. The greStstream
Of travel between the East and the Weai
poured over the National Road from that
time on for several Year,. In 1883 the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad reached the
Ohio river, and It remained for the son
of the father who started the frat line Of
stage coaches aerosn the Allegheny noun
tains with the daily mail, TO carry the
last mail for the East by coach into
Wheeling.