The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-01-03


his day his name was household
word.
In December of the late sixties I rode
with Curly Bill from Summit station.
on the Placerville road. to Strawberry.
There were ten or a dozen passengers in
the big sleigh drawn by roam horses
There was the deepest snow known by
any of the drivers or other old-tine
residents and we glided over the milk
white highway, from which no tele-
graph poles for long distances were Wis
ible. at the rate of ten miles an hour, I
At last we arrived at a place on the /
| line, on the edge of Tahoe, called 1
"Yank's,'' where We obtained a fine 1
mess of trout. which We cooked at 4
| Strawberry for dinner. I have never 1
| seen such a good-natured couple as I
''Yank' and his wife on the edge of |
| the big. black. frowning lake, with the |
snow more than twenty feet deep all
| around them, and no neighbor nearer /
/ than ten or twelve miles.
Hank" Henry knight was one of
the queerest drivers I have ever met.
He was a native OF Missouri and
thought Tom" Benton and john c.
Fremont were the two greatest men in
the country. He was once a scout for
Fremont. He became a Sierra stage
driver in the late fifties, and for sew
eral years drove over the Siskiyou
mountains. Among his innumerabe
trophies was pair OF gauntlets given
him by Joseph Lane, a senator from
Oregon; a whip from Senator Nesmth
and a drinking flask and cup from
Colonel +. A. Baker After leaving the
road he drifted into Eureka, New,
where ne opened a cafe. His health
} failing in a few years, he returned 70
California. He died in Redding in 1905,
aged 20 years.
Cherokee Bill" drove between Oro-
! vile and Quincy for many years. He
was not an Indian, but a full-biooded
t Buckeye from the western reserve. He
| married a Cherokee woman while dTv-
ing in Indian Territory, which was the
reason for his patronymic
Dutch John" drove out Of Straw
berry for a while, and was killed by
the Apaches near Wickenburg, Ariz., l.
= November, 1872 Several passengers
also persisted. including Fred W. Lor-
ing, a poet, of Boston.
! One of the best story tellers and the
, most renowned of fiction spinners in
the Sierra brotherhood was Smoky
e Bill" who drove for the California
stage company between Marysville and
Sacramento. Smoky Bills" great ri
val in telling stories was John Rollin
! Ridge. At the old Haunt hotel, Marys-
6 vile, Cal, they held many auditors
tspellbOund for hours.
Between Marysvilie and Portland
: Fore, from the sos until the completion
u OF the railroad in 1869 there were many
: excellent whips. There are early Cali
fornians still living who remember
Uncle Billy" Mayhem, who was living
u at Red Bluff in 1898, and James Ha-
y worth, who was once an emplOye in tE'
Il San Francisco mint.
Charles Mcconnell, who also drove
. out of Marysville forty years ago, wa
: at one time an emplOye of the United
y States mint, and who that ever sat OF
q the box with Handsome Charlie" a.
he was called, does not recall his goo'
= looks and genial manner? He ais
$ drove from Redding to Soda Springs
J. The last 1 heard of this sturdy fellow
e he was keeping d saloon in Redding il
? 1892.
= There were half d dozen spends
- drivers between Carson and Glenbroo
= during the sos conspicuously job
~ Spaulding. William Terrill and lie
= Brett, all of whom were as courageou
" in case of accident OF hOld-up as an
= men could be. Terrell was fine drive
= and never had a serious accident. Nc
- even Hank" Monk was more dashin
= or more capable than Len Brett, VIII
= for a decade drove from Summit sta
- | ton to Strawberry.
Hank" Monk also drove betwee
70 Summit station and Strawberry.
I'd was on this drive that he had his mo;
or terrific runaway and was thrown hea
cd first from the box nearly into the rive
", while his six-horse team ran furiousl
Ie for three miles and stopped in front {
40 the door of the hotel at Strawberry.
Of Hank was the most celebrated {
n all the Sierra drivers on account of h
y having given Horace Greeley such
n shake-up, between Strawberry an
II PIacerville. about fifty-five years ag
or Mr.. Greeley was sitting on the box mel
- to Hank" and was worrying lest
re- should arrive late in strawberry, whe1
1+o he was due to address political NEE
,s ing. Hank" was driving furiously
- | make time, the road was rough, al
n Mr.. Greeley was bobbing up and dow
"a like a cork in heavy sea. Hank
while he hIeked a fly from his off lea
lii ers ear, remarked I'm his quaint ma
Ii ner: Keep your seat, boss; III get "
&c there in time"
" Fifty years ago Sam Cooper VI
ith known to many thousands VINO ira
-ir ieled between Grass Valley and Neva'
ne and North san Juan. Cooper was dri
no I ing the North San Juan sage on Nj;
we IA 1866. when it was held up al
ne robbed by George Shanks- Robert FIJI
he and George Moore, all of whom we
lis killed a few hours afterward by Stew
he I Venard. who tracked them UP Mayer
7e ravine and discovered them behind
nj big bowlder dividing the money IN