St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-04-25

team" said Mrs. Langdon. 81 started to
get down and hunt a way out OF really
serious predIcament. 1t was pretty dark,
but about that time became conscious
that there was big bear close to me.
Now, / am not particularly afraid OF
bears. bat horses always are, and 1t
would have been unpleasant for anyone
to be left alone IN the mountains with an
overturned wagon, so l kept very quiet.
The fOur-fOOted road agent inspected
the outfit in a leisurely fashion and
then waddled away. | had to feel for
the road and drag b ush and stones out
of the way, but somehow avoided an
upset, aud at midnight the journey was
ended"
For long time Mrs. LangdOn has
been regular bidder Tor mail contracts
on the Pacific slope. Once she bid for
1,050 routes, and went to Washington
prepared to give bonds in the sum OF
100000 She got $50 contracts, and
either carried them out or sublet them.
This business pays when one knows
every inch of the ground traVersed, as
Mrs. LangdOn does. and just how much
it will cost to traverse every route
so many times week. And 1T
is no slight labor to sublet con-
tracts in a mou Dtain country, for
the lessor must personally visit every
station on the route and find the lessee.
On this business Mrs. LangdOn has
traversed the roads and difficult trails
of the coast through Arizona, Califor-
MIA, Oregon, Nevada, Montana and pOr-
tions of Utah, much of the time on
horseback. in all sorts OF weather and
company. "And YETI she remarked,
Il do not recall an instance where L
have been treated otherwise than with
respect and courtesy by even the rough
est of men,"
Once she found that mail contract
from Palisade to Eureka, Nev.-Mrs.
Langdon says "Nevahda," and thereby
indicates her educatiOn-Was costing
her $4,000 year more than she could
make out of it. On personal inspection
she found that there was a little-uSed
railway, paralleling line owned by ID.
D. Mills, and covering the line of her
contract. She quickly devised way out
OF her difficulty. Permission was OBJ
tanned to use the rails, and railway
tricycle. was hauled up over the stage
road. The man who was to use 1t said
it wasn't possible, so Mrs. Langdon
climbed on the spider" as railway
men call it, and made trip herself to
demonstrate that it was possible. Her
woman's wit in this case was worth
pretty nearly $4,000 year.
Once her travels teok her up on the
Columbia river. A hot-boX stalled the
train at night near Wallula, but Mrs.
Langdon could not wait. With two
male passengers she set out on foot A
trestle was encountered, and for more
than mile the woman led the way
over the rough. uneven ties. The moon
inh faint tn nIStinOniCh tho
ties from the spaces between, so it was
a rather hazardous trip, The next day
Mrs. Langdon saw that sixty feet below
the trestle ran river quite deep and
swift enough to have drowned practi-
cal swimmer.
Of such experiences as these Mrs.
Langdon recalls enough to fill vol
ume. In fact, she does not think much
of them or of her own energy and cour-
age. women" she says. ''are quite as
we'll qualified mentally for such life
as men. What l have done any woman
can do, | presume. 1t is not an
ideal life, but it has given
me ease and independence, and
have seen many things. Bust
ness and pleasure have taken me across
this continent twenty times and more;
l have crossed the Atlantic several
times, and have travelled in Europe and
South America. At Washington l have
met many eminent Americans and have
been the recipient of many courtesles."
Mrs. Langdon's recent experience
with Mr.. Wanamaker, in which she &C
cused him of willful disregard of the
people of the Pacific coast i'll postal
matters, was recalled to her. "Oh,
affairs are quite as bad as ever OF our
mountain route" she said, ''Dut Mr..
Wanamaker's term is happily almost
ended.'
Mrs. Langdon was induced to harness
up fOur-horse team, don ner driving
costume, and be photographed for the
Sun. The stage had to be hauled up
and out Of the dense fog that overhung
Oroville before picture could be OBJ
tanned. Then it was suggested that
people would like to see ''hold up'' re-
produced. Mrs. LangdoD entered into
the spirit of the thing and ordered two
of her best drivers to rig themselves out
as road agents and ''hOld up'' the stage.
They knew just how it was done, hav-
ing been participants in such affairs
more than once, though on the other
side.
The result, as caught by the camera,
was strikingly realistic. Then the
pseudo UduulGS iilduc lliclI NlCllillo dllSi III
and finish the programme. The paSsen-
gers. all stage drivers and mountaineers,
complied. The calls of Hands up,
every body" was not a new one to any
of them.
1t must be added that Mrs. Langdon
has husband who is very much i'll evil
dence. Together they own and operate
three stage lines in the Slerras, covering
go miles and crrrying thirty-siX mail
contracts. Seventy-ive drivers are in
their employ and drove of 100
and more selected horses. Looking
from their coy home in Oroville. one
may see on clear day into seven
counties. Far away on one hand is
Shasta's snowy peak, and closer are the
picturesque Sierras, with foreground
of foothiIl and CANYON. II have seen
the Alps" said Mrs. Langd0n, 1.-The Yo-
semitic and Yellowstone. but give me for
my home these beautiful mountains.
When one has lived among them, AS l
have, and knows, as | do, every road,
every trail, every one of their glorious
pictures, one would not seek another
place to live or die"