Anamosa - A Reminiscence 1838 - 1988

man. Many times on the line from Dubuque to Iowa
City, along the Old Military Road, he passed within a
stone's throw of the prison-site, where he would spend
over 20 years of his life.
The Western Stage Company was a large.
incorporated business, with leading stage routes in
Iowa, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri,
Nebraska, Kansas, and Colorado.
The stage driver was a person of importance, albeit
rough and at times, more uncouth in appearance than
the early pioneers. He was the law on the roads.
The late Bruce E. Mahan. associate editor of the then
State Historical Society of Iowa wrote an article
regarding the tribulations of riding the stagecoach in
Iowa, of which this writer has only a clipping. and not
the name of the publication. Mr. Mahan was quoting
from a diary kept by an Easterner in 1857 while
traveling through Iowa. The Easterner describes a
crowded stage carrying eight passengers, including a
mother and a baby. The passengers, for several days
and nights, had skimpy meals and the breakfast this
day was “fried fat pork, hard bread, and spring water."
There was also "a sprinkling of very suspicious looking
dishes of preserves and cakes, which he surmised had
been put on daily for a month."
The article continues, "At noon that day the driver,
who was tipsy, got into a fight with another driver and
was soundly thrashed. Thereupon he mounted the
coach and called upon his passengers to climb aboard.
but they wanted their dinner and refused. He then
drove off with all the luggage and left the passengers
behind. After dinner they climbed into a lumber wagon
to overtake the coach, which they did after going about
eight miles in the joltlng wagon, with the sun blazing
down upon them."
Mahan writes regarding the attire commonly worn by
the stage driver, "A flannel shirt, corduroy breeches,
stuffed into high boots, a well-worn hat or cap, and a fur
or leather coat in inclement weather made up the
conventional costume. He was likely to be under forty
years of age. Usually he wore whiskers, for the stage
driver was so exPosed to the variations of weather that
it was prudent to have the protection of a luxuriant
beard."
The Concord coach was the ultimate in highway
travel. It was, according to early writers, a very colorful
vehicle, both inside and out. It probably derived its
name from Concord, New Hampshire, where a large
number of them were made.
The Frink & Walker stage coach was a convenience
for the early settlers both before and after the arrival of
the trains. In 1859 the Dubuque Western railroad was
completed to Sand Spring. The stages picked up the
passengers in that place enabling persons leaving
Dubuque in the morning to arrive at Marion the same
day.
These coaches passing through Anamosa was a great
accommodation to the citizens. although an early
editor, waiting for the mail stage, expressed his disgust
with the constant delays. C.L.D. "Charley" Crockwell,
editor of the Eureka, complained, “It is seldom that we
make any complaints about Uncle Sam's operations,
but when it is good traveling, for the stages to be from 7
a.m. to 12 midnight in traveling 50 miles, we think it
time they should be touched up a bit.
"We learn from the drivers the delay is on the
Dubuque end of the route. Are the stages paid for
traveling around Dubuque or for carrying the mail to
accommodate the people ofJones and Linn counties?
.
E. M. Harvey
E.M. Harvey and his wife arrived at Dubuque,
March 14, 1858, crossing on the first ferry of the
season. The next morning they took the four-horse
stagefor Anamosa as Mr. Fred Beardsley and a Miss
Holmes were also passengers. The roads were almost
impassable for the mud. and the stage reached
Lyttons 12 miles out, at 3 p.m. At midnight, the coach
got stuck, the horses went down and the driver was
obligated to procure a farm wagonfor his passengers
and baggage. Cascade was reached at 3 a.m. and
after a change of horses and much walking by Mr.
Harvey and Mr. Beardsley, the outfit arrived at
Monticello at 4 p.m., at Michael Tippin's in Wayne
about 9. and at Anamosa sometime in the forenoon.
Mr. Harvey and Mr. Pete Brown walkedfrom Spencers
out over the right-of-way of the Dubuque
Southwestern, then under construction.
E.M. Harvey constructed and assisted in building
Holt's Opera House block, Tucker and Aispaugh block.
the old Congregational Church. Arcade and Laundry
blocks. the old stone depot, the Shaw block, Little
Chicago, Fishers, Gildners, Kaufman. Scott, Denison.
McGuire. Gordon and Aispaugh buildings. He also
assisted with the work on the Leader and Skinner
blocks. plus many other projects.
He was a township clerk for 40 years, mayor.
councilman, member and president of the school
board. Justice of the Peace, and a charter member of
the Woodmen ofAmerica.
" We've seen the day stage travel from Dubuque to
Iowa City took eight hours, now it takes 12 to 18 hours.
We suppose there are no U.S. agents to see that Iowa
receives such mail facilities as is her duel
"We do not wonder at the different reports that have
been made in the west about packages of papers being
so long on the road that a mouse has occupied bundles
of the New York Tribune as a nest in which to bring