Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-12-01
BY STAGE COACH.
Routes in Ozarks Are Still Much
Used.

| heard in the OzarkS on both sides OF
the Missouri and Arkansas line. This
rollicking old-style vehicle of early
! day travel still carries it's daily load
! of passengers and mail on a hundred
different trails through the hills. a
thousand little villages that appear as
fly specks on the postal map are
served in no other way.
The driver Is the same old character
we knew so well in the early days OF
the West, except that he is modern
lied to some extent. He is compla-
cent, loquacious, gossipy and genial in
fair weather; grouchy, swearing and
pessimstic in bad. Barring the road
agents and hostile Indians, the over
land trips by stage through the mors
isolated sections of the Missouri and
Arkansas Ozarks hold all the roman
| tic interest of the oldtime overland
trails of the West.
Each overland route holds its owl
| interesting anecdotes, it's special brand
of scenery, it's characteristics and in
dividuality. Each driver knows them
all by heart. Each time he talks
about them they are magnified. There
/ is a romantic strangeness in the name
of every mountain. valley, ridge and
hollow. The stage tolls slowly up
/ Pine Mountain dashes gaily arount
the mouth of Coon Hollow on the Lit
tie Sugar Orchard and descends into
Turkey Bottom.
Coon Hollow blends gracefully into
Possum Walk, way over to the west,
and the driver calls our attention t.
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 ridge, from ridge to val
ley, and always no matter where you
look a creek or river.
Stage travel in the Ozarks is slow,
but sure. 1t is wasted apprehension
to worry about getting to your des-
tination when you Chamber into one of
the numbering old vehicles. They al
ways go through. The driver takes as
much pride in coming in on time as
the most punctual engineer on any of
the other fast trains of the West or
South. He has a reputation to MAIN
tain as well as the skilled railroad en-
/ gineer, and he is fain to tarnish 1t.
He also has schedule, furnished by
Uncle Sans postal deartment, that
calls for a report every time he is late
| and the average stage driver isn't call.
ed on to make but few About the only
thing that will stop him al all is high
water and only then when the ferry
boat is washed away or sunk. Modern
times have modcrnized the stage driver
If they haven't his vehicle
He does not drink any more ane
there is no hidden bottle in the boot Il
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. NJ
driver can drink nor no liquor can hs
carried on any conveyance that carries
!; Uncle Sans mail now. He has dis
!, carded the broad brimmed felt hat fol
a slouch. He has cut off his long mus
!. tache and discarded the high topped
boots.
He does not pack any long barrelee
guns He is held up only by some weary
pilgrim who tries to work him for
free ride, for which he generally falls
IL there is room. 1t is weather he wants
) protection from and the gun has beer
replaced by the slicker. That romantic
; part of overland travel that used to
center around the drivers costume Is
no longer visible. All the rest is still In
tact.
In the past so years all sizes and
kinds of horses and mules have oeen
tried on the stages of the hills as mo-
mi =, hn 9
The greatest and only success he mas
stuck and made good. Occasionally
. some man breaks. into the game WITH
large teams, but it isn't long before
) they are limping bad, with tender feet
: cut to pieces. The roads are rocky ano
their weight and gait make them un'
desirable.
For this work this branch OF the
) Government service is probably the
poorest paid. All hack lines carry the
mail except in rare instances. The car
. rying of the mail from point to point Is
LET on contract to the highest biddei
!. and in most localities the people nave
hi1 item down until the unlucky mar
l who is unfortunate enough to land one
} IF them lives pretty close to the rag
/ ee1 edge during that time. This work is
( harder on horses than any other WORK
in the hill country bill up the maxi
, mum. The parcel post has helped ,ne
, contractor out little. 1t has increased
both his load and his pay.
The longest daily route that useo ~
/ he carried in the Ozarks was that route
: from West Plains, Mo-. to YeiiViiie'
Ark. a distance of rs miles. Inc route
was eliminated by the building Oh 'he
White River road. In the longest oass
Of Summer it used to be made between
1 DAYLIGHT and dark In winter ohs
started in the dark and got to the oes'
tination some time between DARK tha'
light and the next morning. This route
wos a favorite one for mining men
who came into this section in the nihe-
l ties before the railroad was CONSTRUCT
> cd. and the memory of the TRIP mas
never faded from the mind OF the pi-
2 oneer of this section nor from the
l minds of the men who came ana Went
Owing to the distance the wnole trip
| yino Retay,