My name is Henry James Monk and I drive the stage from Genoa, Utah to Placerville, California. Some people have called me “Knight of the Lash,” or the “King of Coachmen.” Most people know me as “Hank.” I love to drive stages at breakneck speeds along the winding Sierra mountain roads.
Wells Fargo Overland Stage is the company I work for. Let me tell you a little bit about the stage.
Carriage builder J. Stephens Abbot and master wheelwright Lewis Downing built the famed stagecoaches of Wells Fargo & Co. The unique feature of these coaches was the suspension. Instead of steel springs, the coach body rested on leather “thoroughbraces,” made of strips of thick bullhide. This feature spared the horses from jarring and gave the stagecoach a (sometimes) gentle rocking motion, leading Mark Twain to call it “An imposing cradle on wheels.” At their factory in Concord, New Hampshire, they perfected the design of this classic American vehicle. It was built high and wide to handle the rough, rutted roads of a new country. The curved frame of the body gave it strength, and allowed a touch more elbow room. The perfectly formed, fitted and balanced wheels stood up to decades of drenching mountain storms and parching desert heat. It is always an adventure.
Wells Fargo Overland Stage is the company I work for. Let me tell you a little bit about the stage.
Carriage builder J. Stephens Abbot and master wheelwright Lewis Downing built the famed stagecoaches of Wells Fargo & Co. The unique feature of these coaches was the suspension. Instead of steel springs, the coach body rested on leather “thoroughbraces,” made of strips of thick bullhide. This feature spared the horses from jarring and gave the stagecoach a (sometimes) gentle rocking motion, leading Mark Twain to call it “An imposing cradle on wheels.” At their factory in Concord, New Hampshire, they perfected the design of this classic American vehicle. It was built high and wide to handle the rough, rutted roads of a new country. The curved frame of the body gave it strength, and allowed a touch more elbow room. The perfectly formed, fitted and balanced wheels stood up to decades of drenching mountain storms and parching desert heat. It is always an adventure.
