2-16-11 —     Editor's Note: The following article was written by Charley Peters  

and appeared in the "Postmaster's Gazette" in January. It is  

reprinted with permission.

   

    

    Coming up with an idea for an article can be daunting. As I jotted  

down ideas, I realized there is a good story right here in  

Monticello, Ky. You see, Wayne County, Kentucky has a water grist  

mill at Mill Springs, which is operated by the largest working  

overshot water wheel in the world.

    The mill was constructed in 1817. Today, corn is still ground into  

meal weekly during the tourist season. Mill Springs also was the site  

of the Confederate Army's Southern Headquarters during the Battle of  

Mill Springs. Houses are still standing that were used for General  

Felix Zollicoffer's headquarters and a field hospital.

    There also is Lake Cumberland, thelargest man-made lake east of the Mississippi,with 1,255 miles of shoreline.

    Then I thought, why not write an article about the American Doughboy Statute that stands in our town square in honor of soldiers who fought in World War I. There is also the three-story Breeding Hotel built in the 1930's. It was completely air-cooled from caves that lie below Monticello and Wayne County, which has the second largest number of caves among in the state.

    But, the topic I finally decided on was Kentucky's last commercial stagecoach, which operated the last run out of Monticello, carrying

  mail and passengers. The stagecoach line was one of the most important and interesting  

operations of its time.

    The story of stagecoach #599, which was in operation for the last  

run out of Monticello, began in Columbia, Ky., where it was purchased  

to operate as part of a stage fleet on the Columbia-Campbellsville  

Ky. Stage Line. It was purchased from Abbott-Downing Company,  

Concord, New Hamp. in 1897 at a cost of about $2,000 (a lot of money  

back then).

    This company built stagecoaches for the well-known Wells Fargo stage  lines. Known as "Concord" stagecoaches,  they   were   beautifully   

constructed,  built   on leather springs, which softened

the jolts from the bad roads that were covered with

many largestones.

    The stagecoach was discontinued on the Columbia-Campellsville run in  

1901; the stage was sold to C.H. Burton of Monticello for about  

$1,000. He was the owner and operator of the Monticello-Burnside  

Stage Line. Passengers, mail and express were carried between the two  

towns, a distance of 21 miles one way.

    The turnpike between Monticello and Burnside was privately owned.  

There were five toll gates through which the coach had to travel; the  

toll was 55 cents for every five miles. The 21 miles of travel took  

about five hours.

    It is said that Burton never was late with the mail, meeting the  

train out of Burnside for Somerset and Louisville, Ky. The stage had  

to cross the Cumberland River by ferry (four horses pulling 2,300  

pounds) before arriving in Burnside. There are many articles  printed  

about the Burton stage and its passengers but space is limited, so  

I'll stick to a couple of items directly related to mail service.

    An unidentified newspaper article titled, "A Kentucky Mail-Carrier:  

He Travels Forty-Two Miles a Day for Uncle Sam for One Cent a Year,"  

reported: "C.H. Burton drives the stage and carries the United States  

mail between Monticello and Burnside, Ky., twenty-one miles each way,  

daily except Sunday. For this he receives from the government one  

cent per annum. Mr. Burton was induced to make the low bid, which  

secured him the contract by the heavy travel of oil and timber men."

    Passenger travel and express cargo were more lucrative than carrying  

the mail, but he needed the mail contract to keep the passenger stage  

line contract. The passenger coach had seats for 12 persons, not  

including the driver. Luggage and mail were carried on the rear of  

the coach, protected by a leather flap.

    The fare for each passenger was $1.50 and the stage normally was  

always packed."Mr. Burton kept nine horses and one stableman at each  

end of the route and one at the middle stand, near Mill Springs,  

where he changes horses," the article went on to say. "So far as  

reports show, Mr. Burton is the lowest salaried government official  

in the United States, and no government ever had a more honest,  

faithful and loyal employee."

    A November 22, 1906 news article in the Wayne County Outlook, titled  

"Sunday Mail," said the "Second Assistant Post Master General has  

discontinued our Sunday mail service and on account of discontinuance  

of said mail service. Mr. Chas. H. Burton, proprietor of the  

Monticello and Burnside Stage Line, has decided to discontinue the  

Sunday stage service."

    Then it says a petition to the Second Assistant Post Master General,  

signed by the 300 "Mail-Getting Citizens" of Monticello, was  

forwarded to Washington, asking that said service be reinstated. The  

petition stated: "To do away with this mail is to declare to the  

world that we are going backwards. We believe in religion and in  

morality, but we do not believe in being extremist. The good that  

this Sunday mail is to the town far more than offsets the harm done  

in every way." (I wonder what these citizens would say about cutting  

Saturday delivery.)

    The stage made its last commercial run in 1915. Shortly thereafter,  

it was put on public display in a garage in Monticello. A plaque was  

erected by the Commonwealth of Kentucky, where it remains, beside a  

portion of the original garage, commemorating Kentucky's last  

stagecoach and last commercial stage line.

    The Monticello-Burn-side stage line also is considered the last  

operating stage line east of the Mis-sissippi River. The stagecoach  

eventually was sold to the Wells Fargo Bank of San Francisco for  

$85,000 in 1979 (purported to be the highest price ever paid for a  

Concord stage). The stage currently is on display at a Wells Fargo  

Bank in Los Angeles.

    It is said that a Kentucky legislator contacted Wells Fargo, which  

offered to sell the stagecoach back to the Wayne County Historical  

Society for $1,000,000. With that price tag, the stagecoach is still  

in California. But an exact replica now stands in the Wayne County  

Museum, which is the former Breeding Hotel.