Cheryl Anne Stapp
Hideaway in Plain Sight
In the 1850s the Mountaineer House was a well-known tavern and busy stage stop where multiple stagecoach lines rolled in daily to change...
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California's Olden Golden Days
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Cheryl Anne Stapp
Jun 2, 20212 min read
Charley's Secret
So many legends surround the nineteenth century stage driver Charley Parkhurst that it’s difficult now to separate fact from fiction. In...
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Cheryl Anne Stapp
Dec 9, 20201 min read
The Dragon Rocks Lighthouse
In 1865, the overloaded passenger steamer Brother Jonathan suddenly encountered severe winds and rough seas after leaving San Francisco...
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Cheryl Anne Stapp
Nov 18, 20202 min read
The Man Who Engineered Miracles
Theodore Dehone Judah was the brilliant engineer and visionary who convinced a group of Sacramento merchants, and the United States...
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Cheryl Anne Stapp
Sep 30, 20202 min read
Hall & Crandall's Stage Lines
Many New England stagemen, whose livelihoods there were being steadily squeezed by the railroads, followed thousands of bedazzled gold...
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Cheryl Anne Stapp
Sep 23, 20202 min read
J. Birch & The California Stage Company
Before the 1848 gold discovery brought thousands of fortune-hunters swarming into a recently-acquired, raw American territory, ordinary...
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Cheryl Anne Stapp
Jul 1, 20201 min read
The 1887 Land Rush
For twenty years southern California had poured money, and millions of printed brochures, into a publicity campaign to attract settlers...
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Cheryl Anne Stapp
Jun 24, 20201 min read
The Silver Bullion Heist
It is still called Bullion Bend. It is a stretch of curving old stage road that once continued on from Placerville, California to Carson...
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Cheryl Anne Stapp
Jun 10, 20202 min read
Chasing Horse Thieves
Horse thieves harassed Californians for well over 100 years. Horse stealing began in the late 18th century, when Spanish missionaries and...
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Cheryl Anne Stapp
May 27, 20202 min read
Kansas to California, 35 Days!
In June 1907, when faster, cheaper railroad networks had long since replaced cross-continental stagecoach transportation, a gentleman...
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Cheryl Anne Stapp
May 20, 20202 min read
"Lucky" Phineas Banning
A self-made man from his early teens, Phineas Banning was one of the most colorful, charismatic characters in the history of Southern...
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Cheryl Anne Stapp
May 13, 20202 min read
Best Reinsman in the West
Driving a stagecoach required superlative skills: a quick eye, a steady nerve, a skillful hand on the reins, and a thorough knowledge of...
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