The Parker post., 1915-06-26
BIT OF EARLY
DAY HISTORY


"A LADY WHO cAAE TO YUMA
BEFORE THE SOUTHERN PA
clFlc WAS BUlLT-gaADE THE
ENTIRE JOURNEY By STAGE.
Miss Mary e. Post, a resilient of
Yuma for the past forty-three, years,
celebrated her 74th birthday Thurs
day Miss Post is surely an old timer
for she came to Yuma when there
We're only two houses on what is now
Main street. \
She is one of the oldest pioneers
Of the state OF Arizona and still tells
Of the days when she first came over
land across the desert to Yuma. She
has recounted her experiences to
many and they, if gathered together,
would make a book well worth read
ing. Her first trip to Yuma was made
by stage coach from San Diego, 200
miles across the desert.
The following taken from the
Morning Sun OF December IA, 1914,
tells Of her trip across the desert.
This article was written by Miss Post
Tor the Sun, and yividly describes the
hardships of the overland travel:
Mail was brought by stage from
San Diego,in forty-eight hours. There
were stations every fifteen or twenty
miles on this route, where relays of
horses We're kept, SO that they might
be changed as often as necessary.
me stage route extended from San
Diego to Mesilla, New Mexico, eight
hundred miles. The average rate OF
travel was hundred miles III TWEEN
ty-four hours. Passengers were also
carried, but as the vehicle in use at
that time, called in common parlance,
mud wagon, had but two seats, it
could accommodate only three per-
sons, besides the driver. 1t was Gov
cred with canvas as a protection from
the sun and this also served to pre-
vent the passengers from falling out
While sleeping, which they were like
ly to be doing at almost any time, as
the stage travelled day and night, stop
ping only long enough to change hor-
ses and the service was changed from
stages left the terminals three times
every week. These wagons were af-
terwards replaced by Concord coach
es and the service was changed from
tri-Weekly to daily. 1t was very COM
mon for persons going to Tucson, five
hundred miles from San Diego, to
stop over in Yuma till the next stage
so as to get two or three days of rest.
The stage fare from San Diego to
Yuma was forty dollars. The meals
at stations along the route were one
dollar each The fare from San Diego
to San Francisco by steamer was fiji
teen dollars. There were no railroads
then traversing the state from north
10 south so that the whole amount by
stage and steamer from Yuma to San
Francisco was fifty-five dollars. The
i,,oI11di,,rr o1c -
San Francisco from the mouth of the
Colorado river, was ninety dollars
This steamer did not touch at San
Diego"
Miss Post came to Yuma as a
school teacher When she arrived
in this city she could not speak a
word of Spanish, and her children
could not speak a word of English.
How she taught school those first few
months, no one but herself can tell,
but she soon won her way into the
hearts of the Yuma school children
and there she remains to this day.
Among her first pupils are many
men Of influence and wealth of Yuma
and Yuma county today. Ever since
she has been in Yuma she has been
Interested in the educational work of
this place, and up to few years ago,
taught in the Yuma schools. When
the teachers pension bill was passed
by the state legislature, Miss Post
withdrew from her school work and
retired to private life. She was the
first teacher to be pensioned by the
state of Arizona For over thirty
years Miss Post was a we'll known
figure around the public schools of
Yuma and all of the students who
were taught their a, b, c's by her
have, only the warmest praise for her
and her work
Yuma when first visited by this
school teacher was very different