Does anyone know how I can get information on this stage line?
Like a map of it's route and what years it run.
Thank you,
Ken

Check the book, ALL ROADS LEAD TO DEADWOOD by IRMA H KLOCK 1979. ISBN 0-87970-147-1. This will give you maps of the trail as well as some photos. Ike

[This message has been edited by ike eichler (edited 11/23/2007).]

Another good scource with a map is HE NAMED IT POWDERVILLE by Helen ORESTAD 1994. Ike

Ken,
I'm quite sure it was announced in the Yellowstone Journal that the new stage line was to begin in April 1880. I had a photo copy of this advertizement but tonight couldn't find it in my files.

There had been a road established for some time between M.C. and the Black Hills but not traveled very much - hardly any freighting in the late 1870s - because of danger from renegade Sioux that hadn't been rounded up by Nelson Miles. Then Luther "Yellowstone" Kelly was sent out in April 1878 to mark and establish a new route for wagons, coaches and such, that would go from Fort Keogh to Deadwood (actually Spearfish). His arrival in Deadwood was abnnounced May 8, 1878. Maybe that's the stage road which was completed two years later.

Kenny

It would be interesting to see the modern equivalent of the original stage route -- laid out on a Google Earth satellite image.

Actually Bart, we need a time machine more than anything else. Right?
But I'll volunteer to go back first.

I forgot to mention, in September 1877 a Battalion of the Second Cavalry had moved out of Tongue River Cantonment to scout the country going towards the Black Hills for a new improved road. At the same time a pack train travel party was coming the other way from Deadwood. Members in the group included several destined for notoriety or fame - including the Reece brothers (Bill & Frank), Ranger Hank Wormwood, Morgan Earp, Fitzsimmons, John McCormick, a few of their gals, and two other men. They arrived at Milestown in early October.

I'd like to know how many different routes there might have been over time.

Kenny

[This message has been edited by Kenny Vail (edited 11/23/2007).]

Thank you very much for the information on the Miles City/Deadwood stage routes. I'll do some research and let you all know if I discover what I'm looking for.
Thanks again,
Ken

[This message has been edited by Ken Decker (edited 11/24/2007).]

Bart, The first part of the stage route followed closely the modern highway to Beebe and then angled off. Some colorfull characters were involved, not only as drivers but at the stage stops. Ike

Ike, Kenny.

I have it mind that Powderville started out as a way station for the stage line - that it was originally called Elkhorn or something like that . . . is there anything to that or am I imagining things?

Were Volborg and Coalwood also way stations or did they spring up later?

Hal, The crossing of the Powder River had several names, Deadwood crossing, Elkhorn crossing and finally Powderville. In 1879 a telegraph line was established between Ft.Keogh and Ft. Meade. Shortly thereafter the stage line was established which closely followed the telegraph line. As mentioned the stage pretty much followed the present Broadus Hiway untill Beebe where is turned toward Powder River. I don't know the history of Volburg and Coalwood but they had no connection to the Ft Keogh Deadwood stage line. Ike

Thanks Ike.

Beebe

Oh, I know I'm not as long in the tooth as some of youse guys, but Beebe is a new name to me.

Bart,

All I can do is show you where Beebe is. I don't know a thing about its history. Maybe someone can look in "Names on the Face of Montana" and come up with a bit of info on it.

The 1895 Rand McNally Atlas for Custer County shows Beebe as a dot on the map. It's on Pumpkin Creek, to the south and a tad east of Miles.

http://www.livgenmi.com/1...custer.htm

It's southeast of Etna, almost due east of Sabra, almost due west of Hocketts.

Bart, Going south on the Broadus Highway a turn to the left on the Powderville or as some call it the Deer Creek road You have seen an old falling down barn at the junction of the highway and the Powderville road. The barn is almost completly caved in now. That and just north across the road was Beebe. Ike

Ike,

Were there two Beebes over the years? Or did Rand McNally locate Beebe incorrectly on the 1895 Atlas?

Hal,

Where did you come across that map site? And, where the heck is Broadus? Not a town yet?

Hal, The map you referenced is correct. That is Beebe on Pumpkin creek. Although the scale may be large on your map as it is not exactly on the creek but close. The Hiway I reference as the Broadus Hiway is modern #59. The other POs you reference were just a post office at a ranch headquarters while Beebe was quite a little burg. The Beebe PO closed in the early 30s. Anyone traveling hiway 59 in say the last 40 years could not have missed the old barn off to the left at the Powderville turn off. Modern maps now call it the Beebe road . Road 203 Ike

Thanks once again Ike.

I was aware of Beebe as you described it and was confused by where it was shown on the 1895 map.

= = = = =

Bart,

I'm not certain where or when I first ran across the online 1895 Atlas - it's been in my bookmarks for years.

The Library of Congress (LOC) has a fairly good collection of online Montana maps.

If you want to look then over . . . go to the LOC's portal page: http://memory.loc.gov/ and select Maps from the menu that appears at the left and search for Montana. You should find some of the following:

--Montana: Indexed county map of Montana with a new and original compilation and index, designating all post office towns and railroad stations. Rand McNally and Company. Created/Published: Chicago, 1881.

--Montana: Map of central Montana, the Montana Railroad, September 1, 1899. Polley, J. F. Created/Published: [n.p., 1899].

--Mitchell's 1872 Montana map / 1872 County Map of Montana.

--Library of Congress, American Memory - Panoramic Maps / Birdseye Maps. For: Billings c.1904; Butte 1884; Great Falls 1891; Helena 1875; Helena c.1883; Helena 1890 ; Livingston d.1883; Miles City c.1883; Missoula c.1884; Missoula c.1891. (LOC) MAP COLLECTION
- - - - - - -

And I'm not at all certain when Broadus was settled - I would have thought it was pre-1895, but it certainly isn't on the map.

Bart, Believe Broadus got going about 1907 or such. Ike

About Beebe. My grandfather, Daniel Franklin Ducello, was a rancher at Powderville. While in the hospital at Denver, he met and married my grandmother, Sarah Elsie Wilson. She came from a rather upscale family in Denver. They married in November 1914 and took the train to Miles City. From there they took the stage to Powderville, spending the first night at Beebe. Grandmother took a very dim view of the place; said it had "bugs" of various kinds. Am not sure how accurate her memory was, given her disdain for this part of Montana. For example, she said to grandad, when they topped the hill and saw his house (which was very nice for the day): "My Dad's chicken coop is bigger than that". Needless to say, she spent much of her time back In Denver.

I have some pictures of Beebe (thanks to Bill Zook)and it doesn't look all that bad.

Actually, a description of Beebe is given in He Named It Powderville by Helen B. Orestad and it seemed quite elegant, given its location and time period.

From He Named It Powderville: (I think the author spelled the name wrong)

On Pumpkin Creeks banks sat a settlement called "Beebee" after Mrs. (Clarence). Elizabeth Beebee, first postmistress there in June of 1890. It consisted of a roadhouse, a dance hall, corrals, (and later years a big barn) and five long, low ranch buildings scattered along the creek, each with at least four inches of dirt on the roofs. It was run by Al Berry, who, wed Mrs. Beebee's daughter. He had the ranch and postoffice and raised horses.
In 1901, George Charles was the postmaster. In 1919, Sam Jarvis ran the postoffice. In 1929, Andy Nash ran Beebee and it was a popular place for gatherings and at one time had yearly fairs where the people brought produce for judging. In 1936, it had a gas pump.

Fred, thanks for the info.

Back in the 30's and 40's era the Beebee Store sat out on the highway next to the Powderville turnoff,while the actual Beebee was a short ways down the Powderville road where the remains of a big barn still are today. It was a very small frame building and I suppose there was a post office there, too. If my memory serves me correctly, the store was run by a couple named Wood, who were the parents of Mrs. Tom Watson, longtime CCHS teacher.

Not sure what this means in relation to the stagecoach line, but the postal provision came about first; evidently:

According to a headline in the Black Hills Daily Times:
"New mail route to Fort Keogh - Post Office" [B.H. Daily Times Jul 06 1878, p.1]

"Mail route to Miles City is at last completed" [B.H. Daily Times Oct 05 1879, p.1]

After the stage line was established in April 1880, within months there was a major problem:

"No animals to draw coach along Miles City line" - Black Hills Daily Times Sep 07 1880

"Of Miles City Stage Line, J.B. Maxwell here after horse thieves" [Daily Times Sep 16 1880]

Kenny Vail

The New York Times story Hal posted a while back talked about the Miles City to Deadwood Mail Route.

http://www.milescity.com/...3&tid=3954

If you didn't read it then you should go do it now, it was great BTW.

[This message has been edited by Levi Forman (edited 11/28/2007).]

Found this about Beebe in Powderville: A Personal History by Mary Jensen Hill:

The next road ranch was at Beebe, about 30 miles from Powderville. It was a long, low, log house with a dirt roof, not far from the Mizpah bridge. The yard was green, and hollyhocks and other flowers grew round the door. As we entered the dining room, the table was long, set for possibly 30 people, the cloth white and the chairs matching along both sides. An organ was at the end of the room, a pretty taxidermy deer head on the wall, and a large and ornate sideboard with many houseplants completed the decor. The interior log walls were covered, and there was a brilliant red carpet on the floor. It was truly quite a handsome dining room. This was an important road ranch; the log barn, which has long since fallen in, was said to have accommodated 30 teams.

Sounds like not a bad place at all.This was 2 years after my grandmother had stopped there for the night and thought the place simply terrible. The difference was that grandmother came from Denver, while this lady was coming from Powderville.

I am the last od the Cotton Clan ( 8 of us kids) Dad had Cotton's transfer since 1910, Verna Benasky former army nurse was one of my sisters, twin to sonny, they grad from cchsin 1937, anyway when I was growing up we used to go up the tongue river to get wood, (incidentally, dad homesteded onpunkin creek) and we always stopped at beebe, and the favorite remark aroundthe cotton household was 'if you dont mind you will not get to go to Beebe, that remark was made at all the cotton reunions, so beebe is well remembered, congrats to aall of you that follow thehistory of good old cow town, I have many memories of growing up there, my wife was born andraised on powder river at locate, more later jack

There are many accounts of Beebee, it is in the book "He named it Powderville" by Helen Orestad as well as the book that Mary Hill wrote. The first book, is available for sale at the Christmas store (if you are in MC) or by checking it out at the library. I am not sure if Mary's book is available for sale, but I could find out.

The location, is just prior to the 30 mile marker, on highway 59 South, (towards Broadus) and a little to the left. The barn has almost totally collapsed now, and incidently it is also the halfway point to home (Powderville)

I am also wracking my brains to think of the person who told me that someone they were related to worked at Beebee, but I just got through reading another extremely long thread, and my brain won't work.
M

Found it!
Yellowstone Journal - March ??, 1880:

"DEADWOOD AND MILES CITY
STAGE LINE.

Will commence running Coaches the First of April to
Deadwood, connecting there with stages
for all camps in the Black Hills."

Carrying the U.S. Mail.
Three Times a Week & Return

For rates of Passage and Express apply to
A.J. Maxwell, Propriertor"

Kenny

My great-grandparents, Eliphelit & Osa Wood ran the store in Beebe after moving away from the Stacey area. They were the parents of Helen Wood Watson, who passed away several years ago.

i know this is an old topic on the deadwood stage but i am the grandson of a former stage driver of that line i know he used to stop at what is now known as Boyes for i believe a change of horses . my name is david boyes and the driver was arther edward boyes he was one of 3 brothers who were there during the 1870s to about 1910 my father came back to england one stayed and one passed away there

An excerpt from the book, "Yellowstone Kelly, The Memoirs of Luther S. Kelly"

April 25, 1878
Headquarters, District of the Yellowstone.
Fort Keogh, Montana Territory

This detachment of four men is sent out from these headquarters to examine the country between this place and the Black Hills. All officers of this command are directed, and all others requested, to render to them any needed assistance.

N.A. Miles, Col. Fifth Infantry.
Bvt. Brig. General, U.S.A

My intention was to travel across country where a wagon trail would be found only occasionally, hence light wagon, which appeared to be a modified buckboard, admirably adapted to buck the rivers, coulees, and ravines en route. The detail consisted of Sergeant Gilbert and Private Fox and Leavitt of the Second Calvary.

We went up the Tongue River to Pumpkin Creek, where an enforced halt was made to secure a loose tire, which gave us a lot of trouble until the wood had swelled sufficiently to hold it. We crossed Pumpkin and Mizpah creeks and camped on Powder. After leaving the valley of the Powder, I laid a course in the direction of the Black Hills, or as nearly so as the nature of the country permitted for one object of the expedition was to find a feasible route from the Yellowstone to the mining camp of Deadwood. Antelopes and Buffalo appeared in sight as we advanced across a rolling country which I do not remember well, though much of it appeared to embrace a choice stock range, with farming lands along the watered valleys. At one point of the journey, while ascending a gulch toward the divide where we surmised a first view of the Balck Hills might offer, we stopped to examine some curious petrification of marine life which occurred in strata along one side of the gulch.

David,

I have been researching the Miles City-Deadwood Stage Road and I have seen your grandfather's name. FYI: The drivers each had a 60 +/- mile route which would take 12 hours or more depending on weather and road conditions. Arthur drove the second leg (Powdervile - Pocochichee Station - Box Elder Station - Willow Creek Station)[He was occasionally a relief driver on the next leg which ended in Spearfish]. He would have a 12 hour rest at the end station. Then he would relieve the driver coming from the other direction and retrace his previous route. Repeat 6 days a week. The two coaches usually passed each other on this stretch of the road. If you would like more info on the route send your email address. If you have any family stories from his days as a driver I would enjoy hearing them. Thanks.