THE STAGECOACH IN EARLY CALIFORNIA

By Cookie Davis

When twenty-one-year-old James Birch stood on a Sacramento street and yelled, "All aboard!" it was the beginning of a prosperous career in delivering passengers, freight, and mail throughout California and eventually, the entire west coast. Birch was first hired as a stagecoach driver in Providence, Rhode Island but, along with thousands of others, he was struck with gold fever and headed for California in the very early stages of the Gold Rush.

Birch used his talent as a teamster* (someone who drove a team of animals pulling a wagon) to establish the first business taking passengers from Sacramento to the gold fields. His transportation service was so badly needed that Birch had no trouble making money. His operation grew quickly and he was able to buy new stagecoaches to transport passengers instead of the old, uncomfortable ranch wagon he began his business with.

James E. Birch

By 1854, James Birch and his partner, Frank Stevens, organized the California Stage Company by purchasing or merging 80% of all the stage lines in California. Both men became very wealthy and this enabled Birch to return to the east coast and build a mansion for his wife (whom he met while still in Providence).

Eventually, the California Stage Company also won a contract to deliver mail from San Antonio, Texas to San Diego, California. In 1857 Birch took another trip to the east coast traveling by ship to Panama, crossed the isthmus in a train, and then was aboard another paddle steamwheel on his way to New York when it was caught in a storm and sunk. He was only thirty years old when he died.

His widow, Julia, eventually married his best friend and business partner, Frank Stevens.

*The term "teamster" began as a term used to describe someone who drove a team of horses, oxen or mules pulling a wagon. These wagons were used to deliver materials and packages including everything from lumber to clothing. When engines were invented and trucks took over the job of hauling things, the truck drivers kept the name "teamster." That is why truck drivers today are known as teamsters.

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Cool, Robert N. “The Swansea Stage Coach.” The Swansea Historical Society, 1976.

“James E. Birch (Entrepreneur).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 10 Nov. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki
                /James_E._Birch_(entrepreneur)#California_Stage_Company.

Smith, Waddell F. “The Boom Days.” Western Publications, Inc., 1966.
James Birch photo courtesy of the Alpine Historical Society
Stage coach photo courtesy of Pixabay

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This article was written to accompany my hyperdoc book project for the book Riding Freedom. Other hyperdoc book projects can be found at my Teachers Pay Teachers store.