Stage Coaches

In awe...I stand,
And visualize in mind.
How stages in the long ago,
Were on this road assigned.

Stopping at the...'way stations',
For fresh horses with the dawn.
To face the long and dreary miles,
As they traveled on.

Fording through the rivers,
Long, barren roads...they knew.
For distance was a barrier,
In length that ever grew.

Attacked by the Indians,
In masacre...not play.
With arrow, and the tomahawk,
They were threatened every day.

Stages of the long ago,
Their journey...is alas.
As in our minds, down through the years,
To watch them as they pass.

E.P. 1908 - 1989

For History Buffs:

Replica Wagon:
"That this journey...is perilous, the deaths of many testify...as I passed the fresh made graves, I have glanced at the side boards of the waggon, not knowing how soon it might serve as a coffin for some one of us." Lodisa Frizzell, 1852

"The wagon in front of you is a carefully researched replica of a typical covered wagon like those used by California Trail emigrants. Covered wagons were relatively small; they had to be lightweight. Western emigrants did not use the large "Conestoga" wagons often depicted in movies.

Imagine living out of it with your family for a weary, dusty six months as you crossed half a contenent.

In the morning or afternoon California-bound wagon trains would be passing from left to right. At midday a train might be stopped to "noon," pausing for relief from the sun. In the evening you would see the activity of trains stopping for the night - preparing meals, herding livestock to pasture, discussing plans for tomorrow. Darkness would bring flickering campfires.

Good water provided by springs and streams flowing from the mountains behind you induced many emigrant trains to camp here before heading into the City of Rocks.

In the distance to the right you might also have seen dust rising from other wagon trains plodding westward on the Salt Lake Alternate. This route via Salt Lake City joined the main trail a few miles southwest of here." (copied from marker in front of the wagons - City of Rocks National Reserve)


For Family: In the distance on the right is The Narrows, Jim Sage Mountain is the main mountain on the left. Womack Springs draw is a little left of center.