The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-12-15

can't you kind of stir business up a littlef
It's almighty duh In these parts. Good
nighti''
in the sixties the name of the firm who
had become famous on the Pacific coast as
the carriers of passengers and treasure be-
tween the cities and mining camps began
to be known east OF the Rocky mountains.
In 1861 the Kansas Pacific railroad was
pushing westward over the grassy hills OF
Kansas. and the Union Pacific was sweep
Ing It's arms OF iron up the level valley OF
the Platte. while the Central Pacific had
climbed the Sierra Nevadas. and was laying
its iron trail across the Humboldt desert.
AT this time this firm took possession of the
fast shortening stage lines connecting these
railways. To facilitate transportation be-
tween the termini of the Kansas and Union
Pacific railway on the east and the Central
Company purchased from the Abbot-Down-
ing Company probably the largest single or
der for stage coaches ever given.
They were shipped from Concord. ~. H..
on a special train, to run though from CON-
cord to the terminus of the tracks of the
thirty Of the largest and finest coaches ever
built in the factory, with harness and re-
pairs complete. The bill for this shipment,
could not have been less than 5000.
So fast were the tracks of the railway
were never put 10 use, but were sold to
hotel men, 10 companies who operated short
lines from the railroads to remote mining
camps.
DRIVERS Or I6E (OA-HES.
Probably the most interesting as well as
ornamental feature Of the old stage days
was the dashing driver. who guided his
spirited team over good and bad roads. I
recall plainly to-day one OF the best known
Of these drivers, whom / will introduce as
a type OF the old-time stage drivers, Mr..
Tommy Ryan, thirty-ive years ago, a slen-
der. blue-eyed young fellow.
Tommy Ryan piloted the stage horses un-
til the railway drove his business out OF
existence. Then he went into the employ
Of the railway, and should you board a
train on the Burlington road to go west
from Nebraska City to-day, and the con-
ductor who asks you for your ticket should
be a slender, blue-eyed man, whose hair.
now CUT snort, Is beginning to be streaked
MIN silver. ne is Tommy Ryan; the same
tommy who a third OF a century ago guided
the pranclng horses over those same bill
Each man drove about ifty miles and
In this distance he drove five teams ten
miles each. On arriving at relay sta
tons" stock tenders quickly unhitched
or four minutes the stage was away. The
driver would seldom leave his seat during
the hfty-mile ride. He was the autocrat
OF the road, and the oracle Of the people at
the stations. On the road everything gave
way to the stage. At the meal stations
he had the post of honor at the table. His
opiIiiOuS were listened 10 most attentiyely.
and his jokes were laughed at the loudest.
l have known him to push out alone into
the darkness OF the night, make his ffty-
mile ride through a hostile Indian coun-
try; have known him to find the lonely sta
tons looted, the stock tenders killed or
carried off captive, then push on with his
tired team to, perhaps. find the same thing
repeated at the next station, and perchancc
have to make a running fight for his own
life before his drive was finished. He was
proud and vain. and / have known him to
spend more than a months salary in buy
ing ivory rings at from 81 to 81 q pair, with
which to decorate his team, In which he
took great pride. i recall a strike that
once occurred among the drivers on the
line between Leavenworth, Kan, and Dem
yer; 1t was, if 1 remember right, in 1867.
The Wells-Fargo company had equipped the
line with harness made in some Western
city, and the drivers refused to risk their
lives in the running fights they were COM
PEELED TO make frequently with the hostile
Cheyennes unless their teams were
equipped with Concord harness; and they
won, and the New Hampshire manufacturer
got an order.
With a stanch coach under him of the
Concord make, and his team hifched with
the reliable harness that bore the magic
name OF Concord" the driver, with his
brace of Colts revolvers and a repeating
rifle, considered himself completely equipped
for the dangers of the widest trail, and
against the invasion OF robbers, white or
REQ.