Page 111 - Cooke's Peak - Pasaron Por Aqui

were cooked at brief stops along the
Passengers could purchase a ticket to El Paso for
$100, Tucson for $150, and San Diego or San Fran- cisco (obviously through a connection with a Califor- nia line) for $200. Lesser trips between other points cost 15 cents per mile. Baggage allowance was 30 pounds for luggage in excess of blankets and weapons, and extra cost 40 cents per pound to El Paso and one dollar to San Diego. The San Diego Union printed a list of what was considered to be the minimum requirements for passengers using the San Antonio-San Diego Mail Company services. It in- cluded
a Sharp’s rifle with 100 cartridges, a Colt’s revolver and two pounds of balls, a sheath knife, a pair of thick cotton socks, three under- shirts, three brown linen shins, three heavy woolen overshins, a hat, a cheap sack coat, a soldier’sovercoat,onepairofblanketsinsum- mer and two pair in winter, a piece of India mbbercloth, onepairofgauntlets, asmallbag with needles and thread, a sponge, hair brush, comb, and soap in an oilskin bag two pairs of
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with equipment and animals.
The last leg of Way’s journey to El Paso was shared
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thick drawers, and three to four towels?
The paper added that money should be carried in silver and small denomination gold.
Covering the distance of 1,476 miles normally took nearly a month, but at least one trip was made in 21 days. Passengers rode in the coach except across 100(or180)milesofdesertsandwestofYuma,when
60
they rode on muleback.
nickname “Jackass Mail” by which the company became known. Undoubtedly, the coaches hauled many passengers, but only one journal was located that had been kept by a San Antonio-San Diego Mail Company customer.
Phocion Way, a 38-year-old engraver, left Cincin- nati, Ohio, on the morning of May 8, 1858, bound for a job with the Santa Rita Mining Company in Tucson, Arizona. Way traveled by riverboat, by way of Cairo, Illinois, down the Mississippi River to New Orleans, and then by steamer to Indianola on the Gulf Coast of Texas. He traveled overland by coach to San Antonio and there purchased a ticket west on the San Antonio-San Diego Mail Company line. Way arrived in El Paso on June 4, 1858, after an uneventful trip from San Antonio, except that he had towalkpartofthetimebecausetherewereproblems
route.
This is the source of the
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Chapter 4
97
with William T. “Uncle Billy” Smith.
to Way, Smith was still suffering from a gun-shot wound received below the knee about eight weeks earlier, and he related the story behind the incident to Way. Smith had been trying to make peace be- tween Dr. Frank Giddings and a gambler named Tom Smith. Tom Smith shot at Giddings, hitting him in the upper leg, and the same ball passed through Giddings and broke William Smith’s leg. Tom’s second shot struck Giddings in the head, killing him
6 after which Smith escaped across the Rio Grande.
On June 5, Way was roused at daylight to continue on from El Paso. His comments about his traveling companions and the sights he observed were highly descriptive and included some sketches. They stopped at 10 o’clock for breakfast at Henry Skillman’s ranch 24 miles north of El Paso and spent the night at the station near Fort Fillmore. They pulled out the next morning at 8 o’clock accom- panied by six, well-armed, mounted men.64 The stage was taken across the river by flatboat, but the mules were made to swim.
After crossing the Rio Grande, another stop was made at Mesilla where Way indicated that several kinds of fruit and many varieties of grapes were available. When they pulled out of Mesilla, the vehicle was so heavily loaded that the driver feared they might break down, and Way complained about the shabby wagon they were forced to use in lieu of a regular coach. He also noted that the mail com- pany employees claimed they had not been paid for some time and that the credit of the company was nearlyatitslimit. Herecordedinhisjournalthat the government should see that the line was more
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properly managed.
After traveling all night, the party reached Cooke’s
Spring on June 7, 1858. They made the 60-mile leg
without stopping because, at the time, there was no
water to be had after leaving the Rio Grande until
reaching the spring below Cooke’s Peak. Way did
not mention any camp or change of mules at the
spring, so there was probably no station there at the
time. He did note that during the night the coach
(or wagon) had difficulty in passing a long Mexican
wagontrain. TheyreachedtheMimbresRiverby6
o’clock that evening and continued safely to
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In July 1858, the San Antonio-San Diego Mail
Tucson.
According