Stagecoaches and Mail Carriers of the Past –Photos

Franktown Road in Carleton Place- see the carriages and a stagecoach on your left. Photo from the Edwards family collection at the Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum– read more The Last Stagecoach Driver in Lanark County ……

Clipped from

1. The Winnipeg Tribune,
2. 23 Sep 1931, Wed,
3. Page 3

Clipped from

1. Ottawa Daily Citizen,
2. 11 Feb 1854, Sat,
3. Page 1

 

                          Mail

Middleville & District Museum Photo

Perth Courier, October 6, 1899To The Editor of the Perth Courier:It has lately come to my attention that a misleading and utterly false report has been circulating about me on the 12th July last in Perth. First of all, let me say that I was not in the company of any man that day and also that I did not taste a drop of drink of any kind except a cup of tea for my dinner; and that I left Perth before 5:00 that afternoon on the Lanark stage and was at my home at Watson’s Corners before dark. If it was necessary for me to do so I could get fifty people to prove that every word of the above was strictly true. Thank you so much for your space.

I remain,Very Truly Yours,Mary McCulloch, Watson’s Corners

Lanark Post office.. From Elaine Playfair’s photo album sent to us by Middleville historian Laurie Yuill

Lanark Post office.. From Elaine Playfair’s photo album sent to us by Middleville historian Laurie Yuill

Lanark Post office.. From Elaine Playfair’s photo album sent to us by Middleville historian Laurie Yuill

Lanark Post office.. From Elaine Playfair’s photo album sent to us by Middleville historian Laurie Yuill

People and things of Lanark County–Cindy Gagnon Lanark Post Office- From “Up the Line”-

John MacLean’s Post Office in Lanark Village 1904- Public Archives–
Perth Courier, July 7, 1899–Come and visit the Lanark County Genealogical Society Facebook page– what’s there? Cool old photos–and lots of things interesting to read. Also check out The Tales of Carleton Place and The Tales of Almonte

1.  
   Information where you can buy all Linda Seccaspina’s books-You can also read Linda in The Townships Sun  Screamin’ Mamas (USA)  and The Sherbrooke Record
    
   

   The Last Stagecoach Driver in Lanark County

   Hogging Buffalo Robes will not be Tolerated on a Stagecoach

   So Where was McGonigal’s Livery Stable?

   The Appleton Mail Man Who Always Got Things Straightened Away

Hogging Buffalo Robes will not be Tolerated on a Stagecoach

‘Oh no – a Highwayman!’

 

There is certain relief in change, even though it be from bad to worse! As I have often found in traveling in a stagecoach, that it is often a comfort to shift one’s position, and be bruised in a new place

Washington Irving

 

If you wanted to a direct line to Kingston by stagecoach you had better get yourself to Brockville, as the main stagecoach line ran from Montreal to Kingston. It was situated on the King’s Highway along the banks of the St. Lawrence where cars whizz by each other these days at death defying speeds.  

You have to remember Morphy’s Falls, Perth, Almonte, Smiths Falls and other small towns  were fairly isolated with the closest large settlement being Brockville. The route to Brockville said some was like a large travelling wolf pack with as many as 200 wagons journeying along the roads each day. The road was narrow because of the trees and swamps, and it was literally more than just a trail through the dense woods.

At first, this was the only land route from Montreal to Kingston and in the winter it  really wasn’t that bad for travelling, but in the summer it was just awful. In low and swampy places round trunks of trees were laid to prevent the wheels sinking into the mire.

In 1837 a local Lanark citizen described his travels as “ A heavy lumbering vehicle reeling and tunblin along pitching like a scow among the breakers of a lake storm.”

Photo- Lanark County by Linda Seccaspina

 

When a bad spot was reached and had to be passed, travellers were frequently compelled to get off the stagecoach and trudge ankle deep through the mud. The rate possible to travel in stage coaches depended on the elements. In the spring and fall no more than  two miles per hour was all that could be accomplished.

The cost of travelling was three times that of a first class fare charged later on the Grand Trunk Railway. However, stories of great speed on occasions are related to stage coaches depending who it was and how many horses they had. It was customary at one time for the governor of Ontario to proceed up and down the St Lawrence in a large bark canoe rowed by 12 men and followed by another boat in which tents and provisions were carried.

WELLS FARGO RULES FOR RIDING THE STAGECOACH

Adherence to the Following Rules Will Insure a Pleasant Trip for All

1. Abstinence from liquor is requested, but if you must drink, share the bottle. To do otherwise makes you appear selfish and unneighborly.
2. If ladies are present, gentlemen are urged to forego smoking cigars and pipes as the odor of same is repugnant to the Gentle Sex. Chewing tobacco is permitted, but spit WITH the wind, not against it.
3. Gentlemen must refrain from the use of rough language in the presence of ladies and children.
4. Buffalo robes are provided for your comfort during cold weather. Hogging robes will not be tolerated and the offender will be made to ride with the driver.
5. Don’t snore loudly while sleeping or use your fellow passenger’s shoulder for a pillow; he or she may not understand and friction may result.
6. Firearms may be kept on your person for use in emergencies. Do not fire them for pleasure or shoot at wild animals as the sound riles the horses.
7. In the event of runaway horses, remain calm. Leaping from the coach in panic will leave you injured, at the mercy of the elements, hostile Indians and hungry wolves.
8. Forbidden topics of discussion are stagecoach robberies and Indian uprisings.
9. Gents guilty of unchivalrous behavior toward lady passengers will be put off the stage. It’s a long walk back. A word to the wise is sufficient.

Historical Note:

The WATT family ran a line from their store to Bytown (see below by Taylor Kennedy).
Other early (1830’s) stage coach lines went from Bytown to Aylmer, Quebec to take people
to the steamboat docks for travel westward up the Ottawa River

Read More on: Bytown or Bust

Also read: The Lanark Heritage Transportation Project- Phase 1

 

Living In Constant Sorrow in a Lanark Swamp