Stagecoach Women by Cheryl Mullenbach

Author:Cheryl Mullenbach
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: TwoDot
Published: 2019-11-05T00:00:00+00:00

Together the couple operated stages between Kingston and Lake Valley by way of Hillsboro, carrying passengers and freight between railroad stations in their express wagon and two Concord coaches. The Orchards dealt with all the typical challenges associated with stagecoach ownership: competing for mail contracts, tending a healthy stable of horses, hiring reliable drivers, and maintaining the coaches and equipment. And as Sadie told Clay Vaden in 1936, she frequently took the reins herself. “I drove four and six horses every day from Kingston to Lake Valley.” In 1899 a New Mexican newspaper called the Orchards’ enterprise “one of the finest stage lines in the territory” and claimed it had the “best looking driver in the Southwest.”

Sadie’s venture into Hillsboro’s business community included her two hotels, the Ocean Grove Hotel and the Orchard Hotel. The businesses were well known for offering clean rooms and outstanding food prepared by Sadie’s cook, Tom Ying. Stage passengers and locals frequented the places, and as Hillsboro was the county seat, courthouse activities brought in business too.

In 1900 court documents and news articles hinted that the Orchards’ marriage was on the rocks. There was a dispute over property and an incident involving Sadie’s use of a “deadly weapon” on her husband. By 1901 they were divorced, and Sadie was operating her two hotels by herself. Over the next several years, Sadie appeared to once again be involved in the brothel business. However, an article in a 1915 newspaper featured “the Orchard House,” a business owned by Sadie where guests could expect “good beds” and “grub” that was the “best served in southern New Mexico.”

In 1936, when the Federal Writers’ Project included Sadie in the collection of typical Americans, it’s unclear what type of business she was operating. Clay Vaden wrote that Sadie “today is owner of the Orchard Hotel in Hillsboro, New Mexico.” Another writer at the time claimed that “she is still the big-hearted, resourceful woman of frontier days who saw her job, tackled it stoically, and did it manfully with a twinkle in her eyes.” When Sadie died in April 1943, the only hint that she was anything other than a typical citizen of Hillsboro was the headline announcing that the “salty innkeeper” had died.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.