The Courageous Catherine Rides the Train

Catherine Wever Collins traveled west by train.  "I left Cincinnati, Ohio in the Express Train last evening and arrived in St Louis about 11 am."  She notes "shrieks from engine as they launched into the darkness at 4 am."

Passengers were ferried across the Missouri River and then they "scrambled as best they could up the banks to the waiting train on the other side."  Catherine reached Atchison, Kansas, at 1:30 am and from there took a stagecoach to Laramie, Wyoming, for $60.  After 11 days she had traveled from Ohio to Wyoming. 

Several things cross my mind - foremost would be her safety.  There is no mention of a male traveling with her, or a friend, son, daughter...so we can assume that Catherine was traveling alone, at night over the newly settled western territory which wasn't known for its politeness. 


Second, in those railroad beginning-days, trains were not comfortable as she notes the jostling about
as the trains takes off.  They were coal powered which probably smelled (at least to a lady which Catherine strikes me as being) and most of the occupants were probably men. 

Third, the notation of changing trains must be like trying to change flights at a large airport like Dallas, when your connecting flight is at the other end and you have 2 minutes to get there!  Only for Catherine it entailed climbing up the banks of a muddy river to get to the connecting train. 

When that was all over, she still had to pay $60 bucks (that was almost a month's wages for the common person) to take a stagecoach ride from Kansas to Wyoming!  I am sure that was through Indian territory not to mention the stagecoach robbers of the day.  All in all, she was quite a woman!  She had not only guts but strength. 

Next time...Wagons still rule for the common folk.

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On this Day in Pioneer History:  On May 15, 1896, a particularly intense tornado hits Sherman, Texas, and kills 73 people. It is estimated that the tornado was a rare F5 tornado.