Aha! Artifact Discovered in 1850 Stagecoach

It was just our kind of “aha moment.” For the last two weeks, a conservator from Georgetown, Maine, has been working on the Museum’s historic stagecoach, meticulously restoring stability to the wood structure and its interior textiles and leather. Jonathan Taggart, an expert in this highly specialized field, was inside the circa 1850 coach when something caught his eye.

“I noticed a corner of white paper down behind the back right seat, where a person would have been facing forward – a choice seat,” said Taggart. “The horsehair was coming out of the padding where it has dried up and shrunken, and there was this beautiful printed package.”

Dr. F.W. Diemer’s Swan Root Dyspepsia Treatment – a “two-day sample… fully guaranteed,” unopened, presumably fell or perhaps was jostled from the pocket of a passenger about one-and-half centuries ago, and it lay there, until this week.

It’s no wonder that a passenger would have brought along such a remedy.

“Riding in that thing would have given you dyspepsia,” said Taggart. “It couldn’t have been a comfortable ride. It was supposed to be for six people. They would have been crammed in like sardines with no legroom for hours going ka-boing, ka-boig, not going down nice, smooth pavement with rubber tires – these ‘tires’ are steel.”

The Museum’s DeMoss Family Concord Stagecoach, one of the Museum’s most significant artifacts, plays a key role in telling the story of the settlement of the High Desert frontier. Every year, thousands of visitors and school children learn about the region’s history as they pause beside the stagecoach and chat with its driver, portrayed by the Museum's Living History volunteers.

The stagecoach was once owned by Henry James “Hank” Monk, whose escapades have made it possibly the most famous Western American stagecoach. Monk ran great quantities of gold before railroad times, as well as passengers such as Horace Greeley, the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII), Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock, Prince Alexander of Russia (to a Bill Cody buffalo hunt), and President Rutherford B. Hayes.

We can only wonder if perhaps it was one of these figures who, upon experiencing stomach upset as the stage rumbled over boulder-laden trails, fumbled around unsuccessfully for the medicine. So stop by the Museum, and let this remarkable artifact spark your imagination.