OLD ORDER CHANGETH NOT

WITH HORSE-DRAWN STATE

Thursday, Jan 11, 1917

Traverse City. Record Eagle

 

Many of the institutions that have helped to develop Northern Michigan have served its purpose and passed into the discard with those things that at one time or another were looked upon in the light of marks of progress. One of the few of these to remain is the old horse drawn stage.

United States mail that once was carried throughout the year by stage is now hustled from train to isolated town by motor car in the summer but when the snow starts to bank up along the fence corners and the cuts begin to fill, the stage driver sheds his gauntlet gloves and leather cab for wool mitts and Scotch cap.

The old stage is hauled out from the shed, painted a dull green and the little sheet iron stove is screwed onto the floor.

Grand Traverse region is rich in stages today.  Possibly no sections of the state boasts of more towns not situated on railroads.  These towns are the result of lumbering activities.  They are entitled to and must get their mail.  Therefore the stages are continued.

The only stage route out of Traverse City is the one running to Old Mission every other day.  It carries passengers and light freight.  It is needed and it is patronized.  The rural carriers handle all the mail.

In the summer months, several automobiles and trucks have a regular schedule for this route, but they cannot survive the cold blasts of winter. In warm weather a passenger can go from one point to the other in an hour.  Now it takes from three to five hours to make the same trip. Frequently it takes even longer, if the snow is drifted and the cuts are filled.

Typical Winter Roads

(note: the tracks you see in the photograph is what the writer is referring to as 'cuts')

Leelanau county has several routes.  One runs from Cedar to Maple City, one from Provemont to Leland and another from Suttons Bay to Provemont.

Over in Manistee county a stage meets every train at Norwalk and carries mail and passengers into Bear Lake.  The writer recalls a time several years ago when the winter showed the first signs of breaking up.  The snow was soft and the track uncertain.  The stage left Bear Lake at noon for Norwalk.  In one of the cuts the snow was exactly level with the telephone poles.  The tips, projecting from the snow looked like corner stakes in a cemetery.  In order that teams might not leave the beaten path and sink in the soft snow, small branches were strung along the road staking out the path.

On this occasion the stage tipped over in this cut and a little girl of four or five years had her arm broken.  The stage was righted and the trip completed.  Four hours after the accident the child received medical attention at Copemish.  This is one of the hazards of stage travel.

Regardless of the in-roads of the automobile on horse hauling, here is one branch of the business it can never enter.  The winter stage belongs distinctly to the horse.  It is his mission and, until the climate changes, he will fulfill it.

Printed with Traverse City Record Eagle permission.

Now.. we all know what happened to the winter stages belonging distinctly to the horse!  Thanks to snowplows.

 

 

 

 

 

15 Sep2007, HomeTown Edition Research, Brenda K. Wolfgram Moore