Interesting Facts About Stagecoaches - Plus Giveaway

To celebrate the release of Stagecoach to Liberty, third book in the Montana Gold western historical romance series, I’m giving away to two winners their choice of a digital copy of either Hills of Nevermore (Montana Gold 1) or Cheyenne Sunrise (Montana Gold 3). Comment before midnight, Pacific Time, January 25th on the question in this post for a chance to win. Leave your email address to be eligible. I'll contact the winner privately by January 27th. 

Interesting Facts About Stagecoaches 

There's something about a stagecoach that brings out the romantic in all of us. Picture a stagecoach pulled by a team of frothing horses and you summon the very essence of the Wild West. You imagine yourself settling back against the leather upholstery with a view of the western plains. You sigh. Romance and adventure await! Hold your horses. So do nausea and exhaustion. 

Being tossed about a coach with little or no shock absorbers took a toll on the passengers. Despite the galmourous image, stagecoach travel was pretty rough. Let's take a look at what else we might not know about stagecoaches.

Origin

The stagecoach originated in Great Britain during the 1600’s as one of the earliest modes of public transportation.

Name

Stagecoaches traveled from stop to stop so drivers could swap tired horses for fresh ones and allow passengers to purchase food and drink. The characteristic travel in stages gave rise to the term ‘stagecoach,’ or ‘stage’ for short.

Stage Stops

Passengers could alight for about 10 minutes at stage stops to stretch their legs, purchase food and drink, and attend to other necessary matters. These stops were spaced between 10 and 30 miles apart.

Speed

A stagecoach covered, on average, 5-8 miles in an hour. Rate of travel depended on condition of the road and the terrain.

Windows

The risk of breakage was too great, so stagecoach windows had no panes. Instead, thick leather curtains could be unrolled and attached at the bottom over window openings to shield passengers from inclement weather, dust, or mud.

Sleep

Exhaustion helped people fall asleep while riding in the coach, however staying asleep could be a problem due to the jostling from rough roads. Sometimes stagecoaches ran through the night. If they stopped at a roadhouse, they usually had to wake early to continue the journey.

Mail

Starting in 1785, Congress passed legislation to allow stagecoaches to carry mail. America relied on stagecoaches to transport mail through the 1840’s. Postal delivery was an important function for stagecoach lines, and often passengers shared coach space with mail bags.

A First-Hand Account

In Roughing It, Mark Twain’s autobiographical account, he describes traveling with the mail. "Whenever the stage stopped to change horses, we would wake up, and try to recollect where we were - and succeed - and in a minute or two the stage would be off again, and we likewise. We began to get into country, now, threaded here and there with little streams. These had high, steep banks on each side, and every time we flew down one bank and scrambled up the other, our party inside got mixed sowewhat. First we would all lie down in a pile at the forward end of the stage, nearly in a sitting posture, and in a second we would shoot to the other end and stand on our heads. And we would sprawl and kick, too, and ward off ends and corners of mail-bags that came lumbering over us and about us; and as the dust rose from the tumult, we would all sneeze in chorus, and the majority of us would grumble, and probably say some hasty thing, like: 'Take your elbow out of my ribs! Can't you quit crowding?'” 

Giveaway Question

Have you ever had a bad travel experience that is funny in hindsight?

Winner chooses between the following books from the Montana Gold series
Hills of Nevermore: Can a young widow hide her secret shame from the Irish circuit preacher bent on helping her survive?

Cheyenne Sunrise: A young Irish widow has no choice but to trust her half-Cheyenne guide with her life, but can she trust him with her heart?   

About Janalyn Voigt

Janalyn Voigt's unique blend of adventure, romance, suspense, and whimsy creates breathtaking fictional worlds for readers. Known for her vivid writing, this multi-faceted author writes in the western historical romance, medieval epic fantasy, and romantic suspense genres.

Janalyn is represented by Wordserve Literary Agency. Her memberships include ACFW and NCWA. When she's not writing, she loves to garden and explore the great outdoors with her family.

About Stagecoach to Liberty

Can a desperate young woman trust the handsome Irish stranger who wants to free her from her captors?

Elsa Meier, a young Hessian woman newly in America, falls into the hands of soul merchants intent on forcing her into prostitution.

The last thing that Connor Walsh, an Irishman returning to his ranch after a bout of amnesia, wants is trouble, but he suspects that Elsa isn't wholeheartedly traveling with her companions.

Based on actual historical events during a time of unrest in America, Stagecoach to Liberty explores faith, love, and courage in the wild west.

Purchase Stagecoach to Liberty

Learn more about the Montana Gold series.

Quirky Montana Historical Facts

I came across my share of quirky historical trivia while researching the Montana Gold series, set during Montana’s goldrush, a wild and wooly time in the Old Wild West. Many colorful stories attach to place names in particular. Here, for your entertainment are some of the gems I mined in my historical research. 

Quirky Montana Historical Facts 

Montana was Idaho

You read that right. Idaho Territory formed March 4 1863 and covered some of the, er, territory that would become part of southwestern Montana in the present day. Prior to that date, the land was part of Washington Territory.

Image: Idaho Territory Coat of Arms

 The borders shifted again on March 26 1864, at the birth of Montana Territory. One family living in Hell Gate (south of what is now Missoula) held an unusual claim to fame. Their three children had been born in a single house but three different territories.

Image: Montana Territory Coat of Arms

The Ruby River contained no rubies

The Upper Ruby River; image by Mike Cline [CC BY-SA 3.0] from Wikimedia Commons

Early settlers mistook the pretty red gemstones they found in the riverbed and along its banks for rubies. These were in fact garnets. The name stuck, regardless.

Hell Gate Canyon earned its name.

Hell Gate Canyon from Heaven's Gate overlook, Idaho. Image by Dsdugan [Public domain], from Wikimedia Commons

French trappers named Hell Gate Canyon for the piles of human bones they found within it. The Flathead tribe had to pass through the canyon to reach hunting grounds on the other side. Unfortunately, the narrow canyon entrances made ideal locations for members of the Blackfoot tribe to ambush the hunting parties.

Deer Lodge wasn’t a building.

Hot spring mound in the "Deer Lodge" prairie of the Rocky Mountains.
Color lithograph after G. Sohon. [CC BY 4.0] via Wikimedia Commons

Well, okay. There are buildings in the town of Deer Lodge, and Deer Lodge Valley has its share of buildings. However, both the town and the valley were named after a mound. A remarkable landmark in its day, Deer Lodge Mound has less status in modern times. A warm spring (now capped) steamed at the top of the 40-foot-high geologic formation and deposited minerals down its side. This made the mound into a salt lick for multitudes of local deer. The spring steamed in the cold winter air, reminding the local tribe of a lodge with smoke curling above it.

Tell it to the judge.

Varina Davis, wife of Jefferson Davis in a portrait miniature by John Wood Dodge (1807-1893)
 (www.civilwar.si.edu) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Virginia City, Montana was almost named after Jefferson Davis’s beautiful wife, Varina. However, Judge Bissell, a devout Unionist, refused to approve the town charter until the name was changed. The framers of the town opted for the judge’s suggestion of Virginia City, and the charter went through.

The fort that wasn’t.

Fort Owen in Montana's Bitterroot Valley; image by Forest Service Northern Region from Missoula, MT, USA
[CC BY 2.0 or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Major John Owen, a retired army sutler (supply manager), settled in 1850 with his beloved Native American wife in the Bitterroot Valley and there established a ‘fort.’ Really just a trading post, Fort Owen never housed soldiers or heard a shot fired. Major Owen was trusted by the local tribe and settlers alike. He served as Indian Agent to the Flathead tribe between 1856 and 1862.

Uncovering very human stories while researching my books makes history come alive for me. I hope I have given you a small window into the past.

About Janalyn Voigt

Janalyn Voigt's unique blend of adventure, romance, suspense, and whimsy creates breathtaking fictional worlds for readers. Known for her vivid writing, this multi-faceted author writes in the western historical romance, medieval epic fantasy, and romantic suspense genres. 

Janalyn is represented by Wordserve Literary Agency. Her memberships include ACFW and NCWA. When she's not writing, she loves to garden and explore the great outdoors with her family.

Cheyenne Sunrise (Montana Gold 2)

Can a woman with no faith in men learn to trust the half-Cheyenne trail guide determined to protect her?

Young Irish widow Bry Brennan doesn’t want another husband to break her spirit. When she and her brother Con join a wagon train headed to Montana Territory, Bry ignores her fascination with Nick Laramie, the handsome trail guide.

Nick lives in an uneasy truce between the settlers and his mother’s tribe without fully fitting in among either. With no intention of dragging a woman into his troubles, he stifles his yearning for Bry.
The perilous journey throws the two together, leaving Bry no choice but to trust Nick with her life. Can she also trust him with her heart? Answering that riddle forces Bry to confront her unresolved questions about God’s love.

Based on actual historical events during a time of unrest in America, Cheyenne Sunrise explores faith, love, and courage in the wild west. Learn more.

Wedding Traditions

By Amy Lillard

I’m a romance author. I should be all about the weddings. But I’m not. They’re beautiful and memorable, but I’m more of a happily ever after girl. Yes, my own wedding was so romantic—in the courthouse in Arkansas on a Monday afternoon. Twenty-five years later, I have no regrets over my lack of a three hundred person guest list, pristine white dress, and extensive photo album. 

But there are those out there every day who long for the doves released at sunset, the white stretch limo, and twenty dollar a place setting at the country club.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not casting stones. Everyone should have the wedding (or not) of their dreams. But have you ever wondered where these traditions came from?

My current work in progress—The Wildflower Bride— is a follow-up to my latest release, The Gingerbread Bride. And yes, it includes a wedding. In 1871. And so my research began. Which traditions are new? Which are old? Why do brides throw the bouquet? Why do they carry a bouquet? Well, here’s what I found out.

The White Wedding Dress:

In 1840, Queen Victoria married and wore white which started the tradition of the bride wearing white. The white dress was never intended to judge whether or not the bride was a virgin - that was the role of the veil.

After Prince Albert died in 1861, a great many brides wore black dresses and a white veil. This was something of a nod to the queen since she started the white wedding dress and then wore nothing but black after his death.

A white wedding dress showed a measure of the family’s wealth. A dress of such a delicate material and pristine color couldn’t hold up to stains or work. To have a dress for one occasion was opulence at its finest.

Many nineteenth century brides had only one best dress and they were generally

married in that dress. It was not uncommon for brides to be married in black or other dark colors, as this best dress could also double as suitable funeral attire.

The Wedding Party:
The tradition of bridesmaid dresses and the groom standing to the right of the bride evolved during the time of bridal dowries and bridal capture. A bride with a handsome dowry was sometimes kidnapped on her way to the wedding. She would be forcibly married to her captor, then raped to consummate the marriage. Her father would then have to pay the captor the dowry. The bridesmaid was dressed in the exact same clothes as the bride so as to confuse any potential captors.

When it became more difficult to steal the bride on the way to the wedding, a band of men would storm the church and use force to capture the bride during the ceremony. The groom stood on the right of the bride so he could wear a sword on his hip - if someone tried to steal the bride, he could draw his sword and not cut off the bride's head as he defended her.

June Weddings and Throwing the Bouquet:

June has been the most popular choice for weddings for centuries. Why? Because during the 1400 and 1500s, people only bathed thoroughly once each year. In May. As such, the overall population smelled relatively fresh in June, making it a good time to hold a special event like a wedding. Body odor was further masked by brides picking flowers and forming a bouquet on the way to the wedding.

In 1870, the bouquet was thrown and the couple would go on a honeymoon.

The Honeymoon:

In the 1860s, the younger brother of Napoleon, Jerome, came to America and found his bride in Baltimore. He took her to Niagara Falls after their ceremony which caused it to become a popular honeymoon spot.

The Wedding Shower:

This is the only tradition with a romantic history. In Holland during the 1500 or 1600s, a wealthy man's daughter fell in love with a poor man. The father refused to allow the couple to get married and said if they eloped he would not give the man the daughter's dowry. Without the dowry, the couple had no way of setting up a home together and could not marry. The townsfolk loved this couple so much they showered the couple with gifts and money in order for them to marry.

The Wedding Cake:

Wedding cakes date back centuries, but the white cakes that we are accustomed to seeing were very expensive up until the 17th century. Only the wealthy families could afford to have a very pure white frosting and this showed the wealth and the social status of the family. When Queen Victoria used white icing on her cake it gained a new title, royal icing.

The modern wedding cake as we know it now originated at the wedding of Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, in 1882.

A Couple of Interesting Facts:

In 1880, wedding photos became the rage, though it was usually just the bride who was photographed.

Kissing the bride was also put on hold during the Victorian age. It was considered uncomely PDA.

Although I bypassed a lot of traditions, I had a wedding bouquet, something borrowed, and something blue. There was no music, a small cake, and a couple of bottles of champagne. Was there a particular wedding tradition that you observed or didn’t observe at your own wedding?