Stagecoach

(noun)

A type of covered wagon for passengers and goods, strongly sprung and drawn by four horses, usually four-in-hand. Widely used before the introduction of railway transport, it made regular trips between stages or stations, which were places of rest provided for wagon travelers.

Related Terms

Examples of Stagecoach in the following topics:

  • Oregon and the Overland Trails

    • The Overland Trail (also known as the Overland Stage Line) was a stagecoach and wagon trail in the American west during the 19th century.
    • The Overland Stage Company owned by Ben Holladay famously used the Overland Trail to run mail and passengers to Salt Lake City, Utah, via stagecoaches in the early 1860s.
    • The stage line operated until 1869, when completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad eliminated the need for mail service via stagecoach.

  • The Transformation of the West

    • The second major type of banditry was conducted by the infamous outlaws of the West, including Jesse James, Billy the Kid, the Dalton Gang, Black Bart, Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch, and hundreds of others who preyed on banks, trains, and stagecoaches.

  • The Transcontinental Railroads

    • The construction of the railroad resulted in the end of most of the far slower and more hazardous stagecoach lines and wagon trains.

  • The Diversity of the West

    • Known as the California "Robin Hood," Joaquin Murieta led a gang in the 1850s which burned houses, killed miners, and robbed stagecoaches.

  • Women in the West

    • She committed one of the last recorded stagecoach robberies in the United States.