The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1891-08-03
ON THE GRADE.
Why the Old California Siagers
Treat Hallidie, the Inventor,
as an Equal.

The telling Of the stories Of ~stagecoach
days on the frontier has only Just begun.
For every n yet told there are q thou
sand better ones hidden in the mountains,
hanging in faint echoes about the camp
fires Of the pioneers.
If you live awhile in the cabins along
the Yuba, above MarysvilIe, you viii
find miners still coyoting among the
thrice sifted piles Of gravel for the after
math of AZ; you viii find old stage drivers,
with bent and twisted hands, who know
every noted driver Of the Pacific coast:
you viii hear stories Of staging in the
ffties and sixties, in the widest parts Of
the Sierras, that have never reached
print, but have been carried on through
manifold traditions until they have
reached the completeness and the dig
nifty of an epic Of the ~stsgecoach.
Besides the longer stories one hears
there are dozens of lesser episodes Of the
staging days-the episode Of Smoky's run
away, for instance.
Smoky was a famous stage driver be-
tween Grass Valley and Marysville, by
way Of Penn Valley, Rough and Ready,
Smartsville and Timbuctoo. About 1881
he was in his glory, the ideal of a driver,
and able to hold his own with any one on
the route. He received his name from
the remark Of a little girl, the daughter
Of the hotel keeper at Murphy's ranch.
She once slid of his lap and ran of, say
ing that he was too smoky to stay
with" she liked men who did not puff
cigars in her face"
After this episode Smokv's real name
fell into disuse; he was Smoky" and
"Old Smoky from the Sierras to the
Sacramento.
On the day when Smoky had his run
away affair the stage swung into Grass
Valley early in the morning with two
passengers aboard, both inside. They
had breakfast, and then Smoky took
charge. He drove around in front of the
store to wait for another passenger; he
put on the brake, as he supposed, twisted
the reins about the brake bar, and went
into the store. The four horses started
off at full speed, and striking a stone
the Jar let the brake loose; then the
horses few down the grade like sons Of
destruction. 4
The passengers sat in silence, a little
surprised at the rapid motion, but be-
heving that the driver was on the box.
One of them was small, nervous, bright
eyed young man, newly come to Califor-
MIA young man who was just begin
ming a career of invention and manufac-
turing achievement that has given him
place among the score or so Of foremost
Californians. The other man was a
mere nonentity.
The young man with the bright eyes
began to see that something was wrong
with the stage. 1t went too fast: it
swung too much. He climbed on the
seat and let down the narrow window
nearest the drivers box. He leaned out
and managed to raise himself far enough
to see that the horses were running
away. He called to the driver, but re-
ceived no reply.
The young man reflected that the road
ahead was not an easy n for a runa-
way s~tagecoach to manage. They were
10 on the down grade, next came a hill,
then another descent, then a second hill,
then a long, steep and winding piece Of
down grade. The horses must be stop
ped before this descent was reached or a
smashup was inevitable. He decided to
do his best to check the horses. II he
failed he would jump out and leave
them.
The first thing to do was to swing on
the drivers box. A heavier man might
have failed, bat the young stranger was
alert and muscular; he watched his
chance, caught the iron bar at the end
Of the seat, drew himself ont, poised a
second on the window sill and leaped
upward just as the stage coach swung
toward him. He found himself landed.
in consequence, upon the drivers seat
and clinging to the brakebar. The lines
were flying wildly over the heads of the
horses or tangled under their feet.
The young maj began to put on the
brakes, not with any haste, but slowly
and carefully. The great curving blocks
of oak settled down against the wheels,
but the rapidity of the vehicles motion
was now such that there was danger of
heating the tires and causing them TO
fly from the wheels. Again and again
he frightened the brakes, and released
them, steadying the massive coach as it
swung around the sharp curves of the
dusty road and reeled from side to side
like a drunken giant. At n moment
the young man felt the coach scrape
against the cloven pine roots Of the
mountain side, and at the next he felt it
eddy along the verge of the ravine and
lean over the abyss as if ready to plunge
down into the tops of the oaks on Niger
Flat, 500 feet below.
Pretty soon the bottom of the grade
was reached, and the Young man put
the brakes down hard" But it was only
a little rise after all, and the horses were
running at the top Of their speed. The
stage went en-, hardly checked by the
doubled obstacles, and began another
descent. Again the same tactics fol-
lowed; the brake was used with the ut
most skill and patience. but an outsider
would have said there was little gain,