Harvey Fellows was Deadwood's last stagecoach driver, and he set a record for longevity for the West's most glamorous job. Ironically, Fellows would safely pilot on stage coach over 300,000 miles, only to die years later in a parade accident involving the same Concord coach.
Fellows learned the stagecoach trade at Denver in 1863. He learned to control four prancing horses on level terrain and the six horses needed for muddy hilly conditions. Half a million miles and fifty years later, he galloped the last stagecoach over the Deadwood-Spearfish trail.
Autos could not navigate that road until 1913. Only then did the Stage Company switch from horses to Fords. Pioneer author John McClintock called Fellows the American record holder for miles in a stagecoach.
In 1929 organizers of Deadwood's Day of 76 parade asked Fellows to climb aboard his old stagecoach just one more time. Feeble and nearly blind, Fellows could not drive but agreed to ride the coach. It was placed on a flatbed truck. All went well until the parade finished, and Fellows started to dismount. He had alighted from that stage a thousand times before. But this time he slipped and fell, missed the flatbed and landed hard on the ground. Harry Fellows never recovered.
Anyone who ever rode a stagecoach would smile at Hollywood's portrayal of nonstop, breakneck speed. But by yesterday's standards the stage was fast transportation, averaging a trotting pace of 6-7 mph. Fresh teams were hitched to the coach at regular intervals. We know now that stage companies saved their best team of horses for the last relay intro town. And drivers were told to enter with a whoop and holler and a galloping team!
A stagecoach was the preferred choice of transportation for those who could afford it. Even so, many passengers suffered a sort of seasickness as the coach rocked and rolled along.
Coaches were often official carriers of the U.S. Mail, though they couldn't match the speeder pony express. One Black Hills pony express rider died in the saddle. He was Charlie Nolin, ambushed by unknown gunmen at Deadman Creek.
10/01/03