East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1918-09-19

( town. There were four stage lines
centering there. One to Heppner and
The DaIles. one to UmatiIla, on to
Walia Walla and one to La Grande,
Baker and Boise.
'Thirty-seven years ago takes one
back to 1880. The stage agent at
Pendleton then was Sam jackson.
This is the first time 1 have met him
! since the days he used to check up
my passengers for me and go over the
waybills, back in the early sos. Sam
was a bright boy and 1 figured he
might get to be stage driver some
day if he only knew more about
handling horses. He was witty cuss
and all the stage drivers swore by
him. and sometimes at him. They
would fight for him even if they did
put up lots OF jobs on him.
Il remember once one of the stages
was out of commission Tor lack of a
thorough brace. They rushed one
through to Pendleton and there IL
dropped out of sight The division
superintendent told sam to send out
a tracer for it. Sam didn't know
wi hat tracer was, but didn't like to
let on about his ignorance, so he
asked one of the stage drivers. The
shop and get one. sam went to Bas-
ler's harness shop and wanted to get
a tracer. Basler said, "Get to he'll
out of here. Go to the other harness
shop. The stage company and 1 are
at outs. l wouldn't sell you a tracer
is L had a store full of them After
a futile search for the missing thor |
ough brace, it was finally located un- /
der Sans bed at the stage office. He |
thought it was extra harness and put
it there for safe keeping.
There was lots of money in Pen
dleton in the early sos, and the sa-
looms did a flourishing business John.
ny Horn ran the Willard house. Ed |
Baker ran the Pendleton hotel anu
Steve Sanford also ran a hotel. Bill
and Cas- Matlock ran a saloon, Bill
Reagle was the superintendent of the /
big mill, old Man Marshall ran a
blacksmith shop. Then there were
Lot Livermore and Lee Moprhouse.
John Bentley Jim Raley and a lot
of other young fellows who are there
yet. for I see their names once in
awhile in the papers.
Railroad Ruins Stage Line.
Early in 1883 1 went to Montana
and took charge of the stage line
running from Thompson Falls to
Missoula. 1 had charge of this line
till Henry Willard came along and
knocked me out of my job with his
railroad. drove my stage to Gold
Creek, near Deer Lodge and saw
Willard drive in the golden spike that
marked the completion of the North.
Crn Pacific. That settled the stage
business there. so 1 had to look for
a new job. 1 got job as foreman
of a horse ranch on Horse Plains in
Montana Two years later / went to
the Coeur d'AIene country and be
came Wells-Fargo express messenger
between Thompson and Murray. From Z
there I went to Butte and drove stage
from Butte to Boulder, So miles with
the weather so cold that the mercury
would often stay frozen in the bulh ;
for a day or so at a time. and that ]
means more than 40 below zero. q
Il kept the stage station at Elk q
Park and ate the passengers. coming 5
and going. at so cents per eat We 7
made good money on it. Along came o
The railroad and knocked me out
again. so ] took a job as deputy sher-
ff till, 1891. In 1891 I went to Flat r
head lake. I drove stage from Ra- II
yelli station to the foot of the lake. III
a distance of 35 miles. We connect IL
ed with the steamer for DenarsviIle. IIt
now called Kalispell We ran six
horse stages and four four-horse
stages and four baggage wagons. ! llE
nave often had 36 passengers on my llE
''x-horse stage. drove stage here
~ the spring OF 1892. when the rail-
-oad came along and the stages were
pulled off the run and I was out Of :
job again. liz
II went to Livingston. Mont. sillE
funtIey. my old boss on the first job {
landed as stage driver. was in E
'harge Of the Yellowstone Transpor-
alton company. and he put me on one e
4 the tally-hos. drove tally-ho 5
With six big, white horses in Yellow
tone park for 10 seasons.
Then Came the Automobile. llE
"In 1894 the Northern Pacific had s
big strike on the railroad between
L. Paul and Portland and more than
90 tourists were stranded in the
ark. I helped drive them out 10
felens. drove for a while for the
Judith Rasin Stage company from s
treat Falls TO Lewistown. and also
lom Iewistown TO Fort Benton. For z
while / had a fine run from Dad l.
On 10 zortman. but they sooll Off s.
he stages and put on automobiles.
II thought 81 was bad enough when +
ley came after me with Iailroads Is
ut when they took TO running me
lt Of my job with automobiles it :
as ali of and decided to give up llS
,e siaEe driving business nnanYl1