Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1913-12-19

II II III dCh vi Tic "ulp lI bhC
hands Of the expert stage
driver is still heard in the
III Ozarks on both sides of the
Missouri and Arkansas line
This rollicking old style vehicle OF
early day travel still carries its daily
load of passengers and mail on hun
dred different trails through the hills.
A thousand little villages that appear
as fly specks on the pcGtal map are
served in no other way.
The driver is the same old charac-
ter we knew so we'll in the early days
of the west, except that he is modern
ICED to some extent. He is compla-
cent, loquacious, gossipy and genial In
fair weather; grouchy, swearing and
pessimistic in bad. Barring the road
agents and hostile Indians, the over
land trips by stage through the more
isolated sections Of the Missouri and
Arkansas Ozarks hold all the roman
tic interest of the old time trails OF
the west, says the Memphis CONNER
cial Appeal
Each Route Has Its Interests.
Each overland route holds its own
interesting anecdotes, It's special
brand Of scenery, its chacteristics and
Individuality. Each driver knows them
all by heart. Each time he talks
about them they are magnifed. There
is romantic strangeness in the name
of every mountain, valley, ridge and
hollow. The stage tolls slowly up
Pine mountain, dashes gaily around
the mouth of Coon Hollow or the Lit
tie Sugar Orchard and descends into
Turkey Bottom.
Coon Hollow blends gracefully into
Postum walk way over to the west.
and the driver calls our attention to
Buzzards' Roost, big white bluff on
the river that winds lazily away like
a blue ribbon in the distance. The
eye never grows tired, the scene is
ever changing. From mountain to
farm, from farm to lidge, from ridge
10 valley, and always no matter where
you look a creek or river.
Stage travel in the Ozarks is slow,
puL sure. IL Is Wd0ISO opp
to worry about getting to your des-
tination when you Chamber into one or
the numbering old vehicles. They al
ways go through. The driver takes
as much pride in coming III on time
as the most punctual engineer on any
of the other fast trains of the west
or south. He has reputation to
maintain as we'll as the skilled rail-
road engineer and he Is fain to tar
nish it.
He also has a schedule, furnished
by Uncle Sans postal department,
that calls for a report every time he
is late, and the average stage driver
Isn't called on to make but few. About
the only thing that will stop him at
all is high water, and only then when
the ferry boat is washed away or
sunk. Modern times have moderniZed
the stage driver if they haven't his
vehicle.
He does not drink any more and
there is no hidden bottle in the boot.
1t is not because he does not want to
drink in most instances, but because
Uncle Sam has put taboo on it. The
taboo was pretty hard to swallow, but
he did-because he liked his job. No
driver can drink and no liquor can be
carried on any conveyance that car
ries Uncle Sans mail now. He has
discarded the broad brimmed felt hat
for SLOUGH. He has cut off his long
mustache and discarded the high top
ped boots.
He does not pack any long barreled
guns. He is held up only by some
weary pilgrim who tries to work him
for a free ride, for which he generally
falls if there is room. 1t is weather
he wants protected from and the gun
has been replaced by slicker. That
romantic part of overland travel that |
used to center around the drivers cos |
tune is no longer visible. All the rest |
Is still intact.
In the last fifty years all sizes and |
kinds OF horses and mules have been |
tried on the stages of the hills as mo- |
tive power. The medium sized horse |
has been the greatest and only sue
cess He has stuck and made good.
Occasionally some man breaks into
the game with large teams, but 1t isn't
long before they are limping badly,
it'll tender feet cut to pieces. The
oads are rocky and their weight and
ait make them undesirable.
With mules the same foot trouble
~ occurred and besides this, after
aw trips Trey become go slow they