When you drive by this old stagecoach stop on the east side of Steens Mountain in Oregon, it just looks like a couple piles of rocks in the distance.
From a closer distance, it still looks like piles of rubble.
However, when you see it from above with a drone, it looks completely different. You can clearly see the walls of the structure on the left.
The building on the right looks like this from above. There are remnants of the rock wall on the west side of the structure, but the wooden parts have fallen to the ground.
In other environments, the wood would have deteriorated by now. However, this structure is just north of the Alvord Desert, which gets an average of 7 inches of precipitation a year.
I am reposting some facts related to stagecoach travel from one of my previous posts.
In the late 1800s to early 1900s, stagecoach routes crisscrossed the West. On the more heavily traveled routes, there were stops every 25 miles or so. Why that distance? That’s about how far a team of horses pulling wagons full of goods and passengers could travel. Their progress was slow because of difficult terrain and weather that could quickly change from scorching heat to bone-chilling cold.
Some of these stations were just for changing horse teams, while others had accommodations available for travelers. The stops in Fields and Frenchglen in Oregon offered more options for weary travelers. One stop near the one pictured above charged 25 cents for overnight lodging and meals. The charge for the care of each horse was an additional 25 cents.
Travel along these stagecoach routes was not fast. For example, the east-west route from Ontario, Oregon, to Burns, Oregon, took approximately 40 hours. Today, the 130-mile route takes 2 hours 12 minutes by car. But imagine all the sights those early travelers must have seen on those slow journeys…
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Ancient
Fandango’s One Word Challenge – Fast
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Beautiful photos, Siobhan. The stagecoach stop is amazing.
Thank you, Egidio!
Thanks for sharing your wonderful images and this fascinating history of stagecoach travel in the old west. Whenever I see old westerns showing passengers in a stagecoach I just image how dusty and uncomfortable it had to be.
You are welcome! Yeah, the wagons had a kind of shock absorber, but I can’t imagine it working well on washboard roads.
Then again, imagine how quickly the distance will be covered 20 years from now Siobhan! Loved your post, it really made me think of what life must have been like back then. Wonderful choice for the challenge.
Thanks, Tina! Yeah, who knows how fast we will be able to travel in the future.
I found this so interesting. Stagecoaches were the main means of travel in 18th and early 19th centuries in England too, but the distances covered were usually shorter. However they still had to change horses at regular intervals and many of our pubs started life as stagecoach inns.
Thanks, Sarah! Yes, the history behind traveling by coach is an interesting one, throughout the world.
Such a cool way to show us your subject, I loved it!
Thanks, Sofia! I had no idea what we would see until we flew the drone over the old buildings.
A great interpretation, and great information, and I love the way you tip
toed us in to the remnants. I love coming across the old stops myself. Always so many questions about that time and way of life. Very nice, Siobhan.
Thanks, Donna! When you find them, they’re like hidden treasures.
Stories these places are holding within themselves!
A perfect reply to the prompt, Soy 🙂
Yes, places like that must have so many stories, Hammad. Thanks!
A great choice for the challenge, Siobhan!
Thank you, Ann-Christine!