Plumas County, CA History

Transcribed by Sally Kaleta Jul 2009

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format 
for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or 
organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial 
purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor, 
OR the legal representative of the submitter. All persons donating 
to this site retain the rights to their own work.


Illustrated History of PLUMAS, LASSEN & SIERRA Counties
with CALIFORNIA from 1513 to 1850, Farriss & Smith , 1882, San Francisco.



STAGE LINES 
 
  
         The first staging dates back to 1851, when a joint-stock company was 
organized in Onion valley, by McElhany, Thomas, & Co., to run a stage from that 
point to Marysville, twice a week. There was a great deal of travel on this 
route at that time, and the enterprise was a remunerative one until winter set 
in. The line was then discontinued, and in the spring was not resumed. The next 
passenger enterprise was inaugurated in 1854, by Thomas H. Morrow, who ran a 
saddle train of mules for the transportation of passengers between Bidwell and 
American valley. The next year he was succeeded by W. S. Dean, who ran the mules 
for a year, and then put on stages. He continued the line till the summer of 
1858, when he sold out to the celebrated California Stage Co., which conducted 
the business two years, making tri-weekly trips from Oroville to Quincy, going 
through in a day, but connecting with the dog-express in winter. In 1860 Dr. S. 
T. Brewer, who had been running a saddle-train, bought the line, and operated it 
until 1866. He was succeeded by William Smith, then Richard Garland who is now 
driving the Quincy and Greenville stage. Charles Sherman then took the route for 
a while. The present proprietor, E. A. Halsted, has been running it a few 
seasons. Three trips are made each week in summer, going through in one day; and 
in winter, two days. In 1871 a stage from Quincy to Indian valley was put on, in 
connection with the Oroville line, and about the same time a line from Indian 
valley to Reno and from Quincy to Reno was commenced. A line from Oroville, by 
the way of Dogtown, to Pratt-ville, Greenville, Taylorville, and Susanville, is 
also run in connection with the stage from Chico to Susanville. 
         There is one feature of staging in the Sierra that calls for special 
mention, and that is the use of snow-shoes by horses. The writer has often been 
met with an incredulous smile when he has alluded to the fact that horses can 
and do use snow-shoes, and he feels compelled to treat the doubters graciously, 
remembering the fact that he, too, coaxed up a complaisant, you-can't-fool-me 
smile when the story was first told to me. It is, however, an undeniable fact, 
that any one can verify by ocular evidence who will take the trouble to ride 
from Oroville to Quincy, or from Marysville to Downieville, during any of the 
months of January, February, or March. These snow-shoes were introduced in 1865, 
and by their aid the stage was enabled to make through trips all the winter. It 
was then that the dog-express passed out of existence. At first square wooden 
plates were used, but as the damp snow clung to the wood so as to make them of 
but little use, iron was substituted. Thinner plates of steel are now used, with 
rubber lining on the bottom, for which the snow has no affinity whatever. These 
plates are nine inches square, and are fitted to the horses' hoofs by setting 
the corks of the shoe through holes in the plate, and fastening them firmly with 
screws and straps. The shoes have to be fitted to each horse, as their feet vary 
in size, and it takes a man about two hours to put the shoes on a four-horse 
team. When first put on, some horses cut them-selves about the feet with the 
plates, but soon learn to spread their feet so as not to interfere. A few become 
good snow-horses at once, while others seem incapable of learning to use the 
shoes. Horses which have become used to the snow seem to use as much 
intelligence and judgment in battling with this fleecy drapery of the mountains 
as a man would be expected to have. The many instances related by the drivers, 
of the sufferings and hardships endured by them and their faithful animals, 
impress one fully of the danger of traveling in the Sierra during the severe 
winter storms.