The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-03-02
ONLY THREE STAGE LINES LEFT.
Fabulous Profits Made by the Old
Stage Coach Companies.
From the Tacoma Ledger.


From the Tacoma Ledger.
THE stage coach days are about over
in Montana and Idaho, said S. F. Shan
non at the Tacoma last night. with the
extension of the Northern Pacific branch
into Lewiston, Idaho, the little stage line
into that town will have to give way.
There are but three stage lines left in
Montana and it is only matter of time
before they will be gone. But those were
great days when the great Gilman-Sauls-
bury lines were operating in Montana
and Mr.. Shannon lapsed into silence
moment as he thought of the old days
when he was auditor of that line, station
ed at Helena.
With the stage coach lines from their
infancy to their days of power, and then,
with the railroad when ii was finally COM
pleted through to the Pacific, and now in
other business TO look back on those ear
lier and at least equally happy days, has
been Mr.. Shannons experience. lie is in
timately acquainted with the heads OF the
Northern Pacific and was with that road
long before the present management came
to the helm. He is a personal friend of
the old-time frontiersman, and withal
good business man of the later days.
Staging now is not what IL was in the
early days" he continued. THE trouble
now is that whenever a stage line begins
to nav, a railroad is built and the stages
have to move further off into the newer
sections of the country. l took a ride no
through Okanogan county TO the British
Columbia line a short time ago on the
stages in operation there, and il was one
of the worst experiences l ever had. The
stages are little more than mere wagons
mot the easy going six TO twelve horse
teamed luxurious coaches with accommo-
dations for any number up TO thirty-siX
that we had IN Montana. The roads are
bad. and one jolts along over the trails
expecting every minute that the next will
be his last. He arrived at his destination
thoroughly exhausted.
But in the old days we had stages.
Equipment is the word for their furnish
ings They were as luxurious as it was
possible to make them. They rode like
rocking-chairs. On our lines running from
Mandan to Missoula, aud from Corinne
over in Idaho TO Helena by way of Deer
Lodge the coaches had accommodate
for eighteen, twenty-four and thirty-slx,
and were drawn by teams of six TO twelve
horses. 1t was matter of get-there with
them. They had the mail contracts, and
were receiving 1864 for every mile they
carried six hundred pounds of baggage
and $3.50 for each extra hundred pounds.
They had a monopoly of that traffic, and
that Is what caused the star route inves-
tigat ton in 1884. The coaches could carry
four thousand pounds of express and the
same amount of mail and baggage, be-
sides their passenger lists. They averag-
ca eight and a third miles over the entire
distance. or nine and half miles over
the actual running time. This was over
mountains and plains and in all kinds of
weather. our stages used to leave Boze-
man in the morning and arrive in Helena,
nincty-elght miles away, in the evening.
Montana was in its stage lines second
only 10 California. There will never be
another country such as those two for
stage lines. The roads were an good and
hard through all kinds OF weather, and
the horses could fairly fly. There was
money in staging then. The Gllman-Sauls-
bury Company is said to have made SlG-