Russell knew droves of miners would scramble to the gold fields from the east. What better way to turn a fast profit than to establish a stage line between Leavenworth and Denver?
Majors and Waddell bowed out of the venture, citing it was too risky. That didn't deter Russell in the least, though the stage line designed to transport passengers, freight and mail to Denver proved to take longer to organize and cost more than he'd originally anticipated.
By February 1859, Russell dived into debt $250,000 and took on as partners John S. Jones, a freighter, and Luther R. Smoot, Russell's partner in a Leavenworth bank. They bought 50 Concord coaches from the Abbot-Downing Company in Concord, New Hampshire, paying $250 for each coach for a total of $12,500. Five hundred forty-three mules were purchased for $60,890, as well as a fleet of freight wagons and sufficient draft animals to pull them.
They hired 100 drivers, paying them $40 to $75 a month plus room and board. Another $40 to $50 a month went to pay stock handlers.
All 20-plus stage stations along the 687-mile route were numbered and spaced approximately 25 miles apart. Wages for division agents varied from $100 to $125 a month.
That April, the first pair of Jones, Russell & Company stagecoaches left Leavenworth for Denver. By then, the combined wages for the 175 workers along the Leavenworth-Pike's Peak Express cost Russell and his partners $200 a day.
Horace Greeley, editor and publisher of the New York Tribune, traveled the express to Denver in May 1859. The stages stopped at Easton, Ozawkie, Silver Lake, St. Mary's Mission, Manhattan, Junction City and continued westward over the prairie between the Republican and Solomon rivers.
Upon reaching Denver, Greeley noted he hadn't seen room-bells or baths since leaving Leavenworth. Topeka was the last station serving beefsteak or offering wash bowls. Potatoes and eggs disappeared off the menus after Manhattan. The Junction City stop provided the last bedrooms and beds on the route, forcing travelers to sleep in the express coaches the rest of the journey.
Go To Page: 1 2
| Here's the follow-up discussion on this article: | View all related messages |
For a complete listing of article comments, questions, and other discussions related to Janette Kenny's Kansas History topic, please visit the Discussions page.