The Arkansaw traveler., 1886-01-30
STAGING IN THE FOOT HILLS
rnerrni, Frre Press. ]


 The name of Deadwood, a city that is still in the "wild west" in spite of the rapid improvements thirty years have seen west of the Mississippi, is familiar to many people who know nothing what ever of it except that tt lies somewhere out in the mining region.
 Travelling from the east, it can be reached within one hundred miles by rail the remainder of the distance must be taken by stage. The railroad ends at Buffalo Gap. Six horses, carrying a stage coach with three seats in it, await the Deadwood traveller. If there are more than six passengers and any ot them are inclined to obesity, there is apt to be . lack of comfort.
 If it is during the spring or autumn rains, there is much jSlting and careful driving and perhaps soms seasickness among the passengers.
 In the bitter winter weather, warm wraps, furs and heated seapssones are necessary. Perhaps the ride is most de liz htful in the autumn, when there is a golden morn, and lszy winds and cloud of purpte haze in the west.
 The one hundred miles are travelled in thirty-six hours or thereabout. Every ten miles the horses are changed, and every twenty miles the drivers change.
 The stations are simply large barns where the horses arc kept. These arc as we'll trained. and enter into their task with as much spirit and seeming delight as the horses of the fire departments in cities. They grow to be familiar with 0f kp aNj kMnu, thAtV drlvers as children know a parent. The coach stops for meals at regular stations, three times day. Qlite an excited in- terest is visible at all the towns passed through. The coming of the stage, with it's galloping horses, its air of mystery and restlessness and the charm of know ing il has come from the outside world which, like R4sseas ID his valley, every one envies to be m occasionally, IS quite an event ia the lives of the village people. Caesar, ID his commentaries, speaks of the inhabitants of inner Gaul gathering around the merchants when they came to trade, and asking questions innumer- able. The merchants were often tempted to exaggerate and sometimes to invent stories of the outside world, which temp tation they often yielded to, and were eagerly believed by the Gauls So the stage coach driver after answering many questions to suit himself amid the admir-. ing gaze of tbe populace, with flourish of his whip, word to the horses isgone Gone for wild ride over dangerous roads, now winding along a mountain path, now between rocks, now along a river bank, and again out into the level messa-hke stretch, that seems 10 reach in finite distances on every hand. The drivers fad their work to possess a strange fascination. No stage driver ever feels content to go back to the ia nc life of town dweller. Each one ofthem has his reputation and is known by his peculiar characteristics all along the route. In the lower part of the stage, under the seats, is place for baggage, much like the hold in ship The trip is worth taking, especially in spring or autumn, when the driver is glad to give share of his sea, for at least few hours each day or night.
 Deadwood IS very pretty town hemmed in by mountains It is in the extreme western part of Dakota, not !ar from it's boundary line. It is ouly 25o miles from Yellowstone park, and is sur rounded by mountains upon every hand. Some valuable gold and silver mines are located near the town.