The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1890-08-13

Alex MAJORS, WIZ ""' =,
Abe famous pony express. Colohel MA
iors rs a member Of the firm Oh rus
sell, Majors & Waddcll, worked Tor
uoors in the interest of securing daily
s..ges 1t was his idea that II stages
,eft the Missouri river for the west ana
Salt Lake City for the east every DAY
tho business facilities of the vast trans
Missouri region would be wonderfully
;nnroyed. 1t was found impossible to
nut on line of daily stages for so long
a distance without some Government
subsidy, and fora long time Congress
was appealed to for assistance. AT
length the postal service allowed $780,
600 per annum for daily delivery OF
the mails at the Missouri river from
the west and at Sacramento from the
east OF this sum 500, 200 went to Rus
cell, Majors & Waddell for the service
east of Salt Lake, while the other half
was paid to Butterfeld e Co., contract
ors, on the other side of the range.
It was in the fall of 1859 that the first
stage of the daily line left Atchison,
Kan, then prosperous and promising
young city, a leading boat landing and
a formidable rival of the then feeble
and struggling Kansas City. There was
n great deal of rejoicing over the coming
of the new enterprise and with many
rood wishes and amidst the shouts OF the
assembled popuiace, the first coach
whipped gayly off. The new line marked
an epoch in western methods of travel.
The spring before line had been put
on from LeavenWorth to Denver by
Jones & Russell The stages ran spas
medically and the firm encountered
trouble from the outset. This line made
only few trips when the Indians be-
came so hostile that it was impossible
to guarantee traveller safe passage to
the mining camp of Denver. The route
lay from Leavenworth up Smoky Hill
fork and directly across the plains to
Colorado's capital. 1t was dangerous
and expensive, for the Indians stole
nearly every team of mules that the
company put on the line. The concern
at length fell into the hands of Russell,
Majors & Waddell, with all accompany
ing fights and franchises. That pioneer
firm then bought the Hockaday & Lig-
gett company, operating an irregular
and unsatisfactory line of small coaches
from st Joseph to Salt Lake on sched-
ule Of twenty-five days. This company
had no post stations and the same ami
mails that started from terminus would
frequently struggle through nearly to
the other end of the line
With the two companies out of the
field and guarantee of Government as
sistance, Russell, Majors & Waddell
went to work with vigor in their daily
stage enterprise. They built splendid
ly-cQuipped, strong and warm post sta
tons every ten or twelve miles, estab-
lished divisions with superintendent in
charge and announced a schedule time
of ten days from Atchison to Salt Lake,
Assistance of 1900 miles. The coaches
left each terminus daily and there was
never a hitch in the good time an.
nounced. At first the route taken by
this through line was that known as the
old South pass route, along the Cali
tornia trail by Fort Fetterman and Fort
Laramie, thence up by the North Platte
and the Sweetwater. through the South
pass to Fort Bridger, across Green river,
through Echo canyon, over the big
mountainsand down Emigration canyon
to Salt Lake City. The daily Denver
stage was soon put on, running from
Denver to Julesburg, where it joined the
through Salt Lake coach and delivered
and received passengers. Later the en-