Connecticut western news., 1915-06-10
THEN AND NOW"
Difference in the Facilities of Trans-
 portation and Travel.

Difference in the Facilities of Trans portation and Travel.
 The News of November T.. 1883, (32 years ago. contained a contributed article entitled 'Then and Now" by all anonymous old resident, contrast ing the transportation facilities of the ''old days" with those of the then cour- rent times. The article was as fol, lows=
 "The facility with which informa- ton is conveyed today, as we'll as, the rapidity with which we ourselves. are transported from one part of this round world of ours to another, leads one te imagine as to the privileges enjoyed by our fCrefathers in thelr day. LOcomU- tives, telegraph lines, telephones, giv- ing rapid transmission, quick informa- tion, sometimes instantaneous as thought, all undreamed of half d cen- tury ago, with later suggestions of something yet ill the future, sometimes startle like a glimpse through the gates ajar into that world of unseen and un- ceasing wonders, with its created and uncreated powers.
 Ear less than a century ago, letters were conveyed by any private convey ance that offered, passing from one traveller to another who chanced to be going ill the right direction, and the great well-flled sheet of foolscap or large fashionable quarto sheet of letter paper, reached its destination when il could. When posts were established, the rider, as he was called, conveyed his trust on horseback, in saddle bags strapped to the saddle behind, the bags , depending on either side, but capable of bearing all the necessary news the more moderate life of the past de manded.
 "Canaan was earlier favored with postal and mail facilities than some neighbOring and larger towns, and fol this was indebted to one of its enter prising men, MT. Joel Pomeroy. For long time the mail was carried in this primitive manner. Making Ca naan the center, the mail was conveyed thence to Albany, to Hudson, to Hart ford, and to New Haven.
 "As early certainly as 1911, the gay old stage-coach, dI avn by four spirited horses, drew up before hotel and post office, steeds put up to their greatest speed, and the horn, with it's rousing notes, announcing its important arrival and an important arrival it was. In the year 1911, the stage coach was cer- talnly running every day, excepting Sunday, between Canaan and Hartford, ! oy. frC,,, X lhonxr xyio ronoo1o In, nt year a gentleman received a letter from a friend 20 miles beyond Hartford. re. questing that his little daughter might be conveyed from a town in Massa- chusetts to this place, placed in the public coach under the care of MT. Pomeroy, conveyed to Hartford, and from there by private carriage to heI home, this requiring at least six days then, all of which might be accom- plished now ill as many hours. By the railway mail service, our letters come to us from hundreds of miles away in quick transit for two cents now, which then cost from six tc twenty five cents for single sheet, and doubled in postage for every addlt ltional sheet, or portion of one.
 Ut is due to Mr. Pomeroy to speak of the great sacrifice he made when the war broke out between this country and England. It became his duty tC convey to the barracks at Greenbush, the troops from all parts of the country, whose route lay in the same line witl his own, necessitating an outlay i'll all that such conveyance required, and as the government was not legally bound to requite public carrier for what was his duty as such, and did not, MT. Pomeroy was financially ruined" :"
 Appended to the above were the fol lowing supplementary facts gleaned by tue then editor of The News, $. C. Beckley, who died about six years ago:
 "The foregoing article called our ar tentiOn to the days of stage coaches and led us to make inquiries about them. We have been informed that MT. Joel PomerOy owned all the stage routes II this section, viz: from Canaan to Hud son, Canaan to Albany, Canaan tc Hart ord, Canaan to New Haven. He also owned and conducted the Stage House near this village. The Stage House is still standing. It is now known as the Ferris farm house and is occupied by MT. Patrick Quinn. MT. Jeol Pomeroy gave the route from Ca naan to Hudson to Ebenezer. Pomeroy.
 "A few words about the drivers may be of interest. MT. Harry Johns drove from New Haven to Canaan; MT. Ebenezer Pomeroy from Canaan to Hudson; MT. Garfield from Hartford tc Canaan; MT. Theodore Pomeroy from Canaan to Albany, and in concluding these "reminiscences we will state that he is now living at Medina, N. Y, anJ