Recently my Business Communication students and I visited the Wells Fargo Museum. We started with a Treasure Hunt and then were given a guided tour. The first picture is of the whole group, including our docent, in front of an authentic Concord stagecoach, which was considered the Cadillac of it’s day. It cost $270 to ride the stagecoach across the country, roughly $10,000 in today’s money. The journey was non-stop for 15 days and nights. They estimate that a passenger spent 20 hours a day seated. The other 4 hours is all the accumulated time it took between stops to change horses (and drivers), which was done at frequent intervals. It was considered a safe, fast way to make the journey compared to a 6-month boat ride around South America, a 1-2 month boat ride where you also had to walk across Panama and there might be a long wait for a boat on the other side, a dangerous covered-wagon expedition, 4 months riding on horseback, or 1 year walking.
The second picture is taken in a replica stagecoach. Two people stand outside the replica and rock the stagecoach back and forth to give passengers the feel of riding in a real stagecoach. You’ve got to try it…what a ride!
http://www.wellsfargohistory.com/museums/museum_sanfrancisco.html
