In the 1900s, long-distance travelers often rode public coaches "in stages," jostling along rough country roads with mail, freight, and other passengers. 

Every few hours, the coach would stop to change horses. In Wyoming, if the passengers were lucky, the stagecoach stops were run by families where these weary travelers could find home cooked meals, lodging, and conversation. If not, a bachelor would serve them their food and something resembling coffee - both of which it would be advisable not look too close at. 

The Wyoming Stage Route was a lifeline for these early pioneers even after the advent of the automobile. It connected our expanding frontier and helped move people, goods and mail across the rugged and often unforgiving landscape of the American West. 

Today on Pioneers of Outlaw Country, we are taking a ride on the stage line in the Copper Mountains, the shortest route between the towns of Thermopolis and Shoshoni. It was a monotonous journey, broken by steep slides and the occasional robbery. 

The men who drove this stagecoach were tough, resilient individuals, hardened by the harsh conditions of the frontier. They needed a steady hand, an unshakable calm in the face of danger, and a deep knowledge of the treacherous terrain. 

The Pioneers of Outlaw Country 

Cowboys, Lawmen and Outlaws… to the businessmen and women who all helped shape Wyoming. 

Here are their stories.

"The Dangerous Birdseye Stage Line”

Welcome to "Pioneers of Outlaw Country," where we delve into the often-untold stories and rugged legends of Wyoming. 

In this series, we are exploring the stories along the Wind River Canyon Scenic By-Way in Central Wyoming as we celebrate the 100th anniversary of this section of the Yellowstone Highway built in 1924. 

I am your host, Jackie Dorothy and, in partnership with the Wyoming Department of Transportation Buckle Up Campaign, we are taking a ride on the infamous Birdseye stage line. 

Twenty years before the highway was cut through the Wind River Canyon, the only way through this rough country, was to go over the canyon on the steep Birdseye Pass, through the mining town of Birdseye. 

In 1906, the newly named Copper Mountain, previously known as Little Rattlesnake Range, became the scene of a gold and copper rush. Over 500 mining claims had been made in these remote red hills. Enterprising men and women flocked to the area, not only to mine but to provide services such as restaurants, boarding houses and even a printing press. 

Colonel George Sliney was one such businessman who saw an opportunity in Copper Mountain. He was a cavalry solider, Indian fighter, lifelong friends with Buffalo Bill Cody and friend of the Shoshone. 

He was one of the first homesteaders in the Owl Creek Valley after retiring as a full-time soldier at Fort Washakie. Over the years, he founded the Odds Fellow in Thermopolis, became a father to several daughters and became the Vice President of the First National Bank. Before he was mayor of Thermopolis, he was the owner of a local livery stable and therein lay his business opportunity.

With the opening of Copper Mountain to mining and the railroad reaching the town of Shoshoni, there was a need for a stage line between the Wyoming towns of Thermopolis, Birds Eye and Shoshoni. Sliney bought coaches, hired drivers and provided the best horses available so that by 1907, his stage ran regularly over Birds Eye Pass twice a day, except for Sundays. 

His ads boasted that the best of care was given to all business entrusted to him and he only hired careful drivers. His coaches were the best and easiest way to reach the mines on Copper Mountain. As business increased, Sliney invested in a state-of-the-art Concord stage drawn by six horses.  

The Concord had a style of suspension and construction particularly suited to Wyoming’s rough roads and was used extensively by such companies as Wells Fargo. Picture the bright red and yellow of their coaches and you can imagine the fancy coach that Sliney had bought for his remote stage line.

Leather thoroughbraces suspended passengers who were in constant motion while the coach was moving. The swaying was accepted by the passengers because the leather straps absorbed the shock. The special motion also eased the coach over very rough patches of roadway.

Sliney kept horses at his three stage stops along the route in Shoshoni, Birds Eye and Thermopolis. Once the snow had begun to fall, Sliney stocked his stage station on Birdseye with a sixteen-horse load of oats. He told the local newspaper man that he was always going to have 100 days feed ahead from now on until after the spring storms. He was determined to keep his stage line open year-round. 

 The demand for the stage was great enough that soon Sliney had competition on Birds Eye and over time, his drivers and stablemen would leave to work for other stage lines along his route. 

One such enterprising man, Grover Fosek, had been taking care of the horses for the Sliney stage line at Birds Eye. He left just as the harsh winter set in at Copper Mountain for the warmer weather and hot springs in Thermopolis. He went to work for Sliney’s competitor’s, Pardee & Junkins, on a route to Kirby, a coal mining town. Since Fosek knew the road so well and the demand for stages was great, he was also soon back to driving a coach over Birds Eye for his new bosses. 

 Another Sliney driver, Fred Craft, had a reputation for being one of the best four-in-hand drivers in Wyoming and was well respected on the route. 

Unfortunately for Sliney, Craft quit to go into partnership with William Tracey in the town of Shoshoni. There, he picked up passengers on the train to take them to their destination. Sometimes that would be up to Copper Mountain, Birds Eye or to Thermopolis, though this new line also expanded to take passengers, goods and mail to the new town of Riverton which had been founded just the year before in 1906.

Another competitor to Sliney was Weddle and Berg who ran a stage from Thermopolis. 

These additional coaches, however, did not even put a dent in Sliney’s usual quota of passengers and it appears his drivers left on good terms. Sliney was able to find new “careful” drivers and continued his route.

The Copper Miner reported that Frank Fuller was one such new replacement for Sliney’s stage line, “pulling the strings” on the stage horses on the Thermopolis end of the road over Copper Mountain and the old reliable, Shorty Hewitt, continued to handle the Shoshoni end of the line.

 A typical passenger would arrive by rail along the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad into the booming town of Shoshoni. Depending on their schedule, they could stay the night in one of the hotels, grabbing a bite to eat and something to drink at one of the 23 local saloons in the town of 2,000. They could even attend a church service in a tent if they so desired or get their laundry cleaned. 

Every morning at 7 a.m., except on Sundays, Sliney’s stagecoach would leave Shoshoni with a load of passengers, goods and mail. The long trek over Birdseye Pass to Thermopolis would begin with a slap of the reins as the driver urged his horses forward over the dirt streets of Shoshoni. 

If they were lucky, the passengers would be aboard Sliney’s new fancy Concord pulled by six horses which meant they would be swaying over the rough road rather than feeling every bump.

To the far left, the Wind River would wind through the countryside, glistening in the low sun. The occasional cottonwood and distant shack would dot the horizon, but the direction of the stage line took the travelers over rocks and sage, away from civilization. 

The heat would be relentless in the summertime and the wind brutal in the winter.

For at least two hours, the road would go over loose shale and down gullies. A few miles before the town of Boysen which stood at the mouth of the Wind River Canyon, the road would turn right and start the trek into the Copper Mountains. Rabbit brush and sage that grew taller than the horses would begin to line the road. Most of the time, it was dusty and the pounding of the horses echoed as the coach drew into the foothills, lined on either side with rock cliffs.

Tuff Canyon on the Shoshoni side was a bad place to drive through and took extra skill with the horses to avoid rock slides. 

 The ride could be monotonous, and the passengers would find ways to entertain themselves. J. E. Armstrong was traveling the route in October of 1907 when he said that he and some other passengers amused themselves by counting the empty bottles along the road. They counted 537 of them and said that the next party could have counted 544!

Exactly halfway between Shoshoni and Thermopolis, at the 18 mile mark, was the Birdseye Hotel and Halfway House. Built in 1905 near the Gold Nugget Mine, the halfway house provided meals and even a bed for those that the end of the line was here at the new mining town of Birds Eye. 

Nearby, the Birds Eye Saloon boasted a bar, large mirror, wood floors and the wall were even covered in fancy wallpaper and wainscoting with framed paintings. A large cash register was behind the bartender who poured drinks into thick glasses for the miners and those traveling through. 

 The lunch break would be brief as the next 18 miles needed to covered before evening. The roughest section of the trail was ahead. It was so dangerous that men and women would “grow weak in the knees” and passengers would walk, rather than ride. 

This section of road that left Copper Mountain led to an infamous area known as Devil’s Slide.

A driver who knew the section well said it was only about 30 feet wide with a sheer drop off the cliff.  Loose rocks would tumble beneath the wheels of the stage and the wheels had to be locked in place to keep the horses and mules from charging down the steep hill. 

After making it successfully down Devil’s Slide, the road emerged onto Buffalo Creek and meandered through sage until it reached the Big Horn River. Here, the Yates Ferry, run by a local family, would take the stagecoach across the river in times of high water. 

The weary horses would soon reach the stable in Thermopolis at approximately 6 p.m. – just in time for the passengers to enjoy dinner, a soak in the hot springs and a much-needed rest. 

In January of 1908, Colonel George Sliney sold his Shoshoni-Thermopolis stage line to Chris Smith and Edward J. Richards. These gentlemen promised to maintain the same high standard of efficiency that had been established by Sliney. 

They took over during a brutal winter that had dumped deep snow on six miles of the road. Despite this, the stage had never missed a trip and was only late twice. They supplied their passengers with footwarmers and plenty of wraps for the long trip over the Copper Mountain.

Just a month after purchasing the stage line, Richards put in a hard day’s work and cleaned away almost all the rock from Devil’s Slide. It was said to have improved the road by 100 percent and made the road safer for a season. 

Two months after purchasing the stage line, Richards once again faced hardships to make sure that Thermopolis received her mail on schedule. The newspaper applauded the courage, and perseverance of Richards. The worst snowstorm of the winter came up suddenly on Monday and when the time came for the northbound stage to leave Birdseye, the storm was so bad that it was impossible to see the buildings from one side of the street to the other. 

A start with the coach was made but it was found to be impossible to continue. Mr. Richards, however, believed that he could get through with the mail on horseback and started from there at 9 pm, well-wrapped and protected from any danger of freezing.

Grave fears were entertained as to his safety by those remaining behind at Birdseye but with the coming of Tuesday morning the storm was over and the outfit that went out to break the road met Richards bringing the outgoing mail from Thermopolis. He had made the trip in safety, reaching his destination just two hours behind his scheduled time.

John Hulse, a coal miner from the town of Gebo, took a job as a stagecoach driver for Richards over Birds Eye Pass when work at the mine slowed down. It proved to be more dangerous than working underground in the coal mines.

Hulse barely survived a stagecoach accident. He was driving a four horses coming over Birdseye when the brake broke. This was a hand brake, which was pushed forward or backward to engage the wheels. 

On board this run was Sheep Queen Moore, a prominent sheep rancher in this area. As the stagecoach went into a turn, the brake broke. The stage suddenly careened and toppled over on its side. Hulse somehow kept hold of the reins and, amid shouts and curses, he pulled the team to a stop. 

Hulse was convinced that if he had turned loose of those reins, the scared horses would have kept running and dragged them all to their death. 

As it was, Hulse was “skinned up all over,” and Sheep Queen Moore “buggered up her knee.” She sued the stage company for $1,600 and collected damages for the injury.

He continued to drive the stage through that winter and many times had to break through drifting snow, belly deep to his horses. The two in lead would be rearing and lunging to break trail and the wheel team would be hard pressed as well, pulling the bulk of the load. 

At this time, passengers could buy their ticket at the Simmon’ Fruit Store in Thermopolis and they could send their goods through the American Express Company. The Shoshoni-Thermopolis Stage Line kept the schedule set by Sliney and left daily, except on Sundays, from either town at 7am and passengers would arrive at their destination by 6pm that evening, an 11-hour trip in the coach.  

In 1908, highway robbery was still a threat on these remote stage lines. 

One day, three men lay in wait along the Birdseye Pass trail, with plans to hold up the coach on its daily run.

John Hulse was driving and ‘Old Man Moore’ was beside him, riding shotgun. It was a peaceful day and the horses were trotting along on schedule. They had a load of freight and one passenger in the coach.

As they approached a bend in the road, the bandits jumped out of hiding. Their guns were pointed straight at the two startled men. 

The team halted, snorting and rearing. “Old Man Moore” fell to the floor of the driver’s seat, seeking immediate shelter. Hulse grabbed up the shotgun just as the first shots fired. He fired back and, in the carriage, shots rang out as well. With Moore cowering at his feet, Hulse and the passenger fought a shootout with the bandits.

The passenger had a Luger and, suddently, his gun jammed and he fell back into the carriage, wounded. 

Hulse was left alone to defend the coach. He kept shooting and the bandits fell back. They fled into the Copper Mountain, leaving behind any loot they had hoped to steal. 

The Birds Eye stage line continued as a passenger and mail route until October 1913. The first passenger train had finally come through the Wind River Canyon and the stage route was no longer needed. Since the mines had already been abandoned, E.J. Richards began herding sheep and cattle full time in the Copper Mountains, continuing to live at Birds Eye with his wife and ranch hands. 

The next year, the first automobile made its appearance on the old stage route and by 1915, the road was marked with bright yellow rocks, marking it as part of the early Yellowstone Highway. It was a road that was hated by these autoists but that is a story for another time. 

In October 1923, the stage line returned, if only for a brief moment. The railroad tracks through the Wind River Canyon were blocked and the passenger train was unable to make it from Shoshoni to Thermopolis. Travelers were stranded and needed rescued. 

In the age of the automobiles and airplanes, the stagecoach pulled by a team of horses had long been abandoned. However, in this hour of need, the coaches were brought out of storage and the horses trotted out of the stable. R. A. Kelly, owner of the Stone Front Barn in Thermopolis dusted off his stagecoaches to rescue the stranded railroad passengers and take them over the old stage line route of Birdseye Pass. 

One of the three coaches that started on the 40-mile trip that early Monday morning a bright yellow coach formerly used in Yellowstone National Park. Four horses had been hitched and high up on the old-time seat with the “ribbons” between his fingers was “Red” Neal who once pulled the reins from the same seat when, as the newspapers stated, Indians were lurking in the sagebrush and “bad men” held up timid tenderfeet for their bankrolls.

Three four-horse stages made the initial trip from Thermopolis without any trouble worth speaking of. They carried a a crew of reclamation service men and other passengers over Devil’s Slide, up into the Copper Mountains and through the abandoned ghost town of Birdseye. At Shoshoni, according to reports, “Red” Neal jumped from the driver’s seat with the smile of a maiden and the heart of a child.

Red placed his passengers safe on the North-western station platform and stretched out his long legs before preparing for the return trip.

At this time, reporters marveled, mail is being carried thru the southern part of Wyoming in airplanes. Yet not two hundred miles north of this air route in the heart of the Cowboy State, people are being transported by stagecoach. 

The stage line through the Copper Mountains and over Birds Eye Pass was only in operation for a short time before, once again, the once vital route faded into history, replaced by the passenger train through the Wind River Canyon and eventually, by the highway which now cuts through the canyon rather than over it.  

Until next time, be sure to share these stories with others, so the past isn’t truly lost, but preserved for the next generation.

This series celebrating 100 years of the Yellowstone Highway through the Wind River Canyon has been made possible through a partnership with the Wyoming Department of Transportation.

Seat belt safety starts with you!

No matter what type of vehicle you drive, one of the safest choices drivers and passengers can make is to buckle up.

Seat belt safety starts with you.  Your kids are watching. Children whose parents or caregivers buckle up are much more likely to buckle up, too.

Wyoming has vast, wide open spaces, and long drives. Please buckle up, every trip, every ride, every time.

I am your host, Jackie Dorothy along with Dean King. Until we meet again for another forgotten story of Wyoming, Happy Trails!  

Thank you for listening to Hot Springs County Pioneers. Be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss a single episode of this historic series. The stories of our pioneers were brought to you by Hot Springs County Pioneer Association.  

This was a production of Legend Rock Media.