A Stage Route Nearby

I am intrigued by how my Fell Ponies use the landscape where they live. Four are visible just above the lower trees.

The Fell Pony is in part a landscape-adapted breed. (1) As a Fell Pony steward, then, it’s not surprising that I am intrigued by how Fell Ponies use the landscape where they live. My best mornings are when I wake up and look out the window and see my herd of mares high on the hill that is their pasture, similar to how their ancestors have lived in England on the fells for centuries. The picture here shows one such view.

I am also intrigued by how people use landscapes. That’s why I’m currently writing a series of articles for Rural Heritage magazine on regenerative agriculture. And being so intrigued explains why I am enthralled with the workings of the cattle ranch where I live here in South Dakota.

So I suppose it’s no surprise that I’m especially intrigued by how humans and equines work on landscapes together. Orchard Hill Farm in Ontario, Canada features in several of my regenerative agriculture articles in part because they use their Suffolk Punch draft horses in their market garden. That Suffolks are a rare breed made the stories there even more of interest. (Click here to see pictures on Orchard Hill’s website.) Closer to home, I hope to get my ponies more involved on the cattle ranch where we live. The picture shows when Willowtrail Wild Rose and I encountered a hay trailer recently unloaded while out on a ride.

I am also intrigued by how people interact with landscapes, including on the cattle ranch where we live. A load of hay was recently unloaded from this semi.

I have been blessed to be writing articles for Rural Heritage for many years about draft horse use on farms and to compile an entire book about harness. And I have a series underway in my Fell Pony newsletter about how the ancestors of Fell Ponies participated in the industrial and agricultural past of the region they call home in England. (Click here to read some of the articles.)

A completely different interaction of humans and equines on landscapes was during the stagecoach era. Over the years, I have read about stage coach routes and practices and companies on this continent, in Britain and in Australia. You can imagine then my elation when I learned that an important stagecoach route went within just a few miles of where I now live. This area and places I regularly see when we travel nearby are rich with stage coach history. I made this discovery while researching my articles on regenerative agriculture!

Looking north towards Minnekahta along the Mickelson Trail , a Rails-to-Trails conversion in South Dakota. There is evidence nearby that this railroad followed an old native trail.

When we go to Custer, South Dakota, we go north from the Minnekahta Valley on Highway 89. Highway 89 follows roughly the route of the Mickelson Trail which is an old railroad bed converted to a trail under the Rails to Trails Act. When I heard that a stage route went nearby and north to Custer and on to Deadwood, I wasn’t surprised because over the years I’ve learned that often highways follow rail lines which follow old stage routes and pioneer wagon trails which often follow old native pathways. A picture shows Rose and I looking up the Mickelson Trail, and there is evidence of a native trail nearby. Pony Express routes often paralleled old stage routes, too. We found the marker shown in a photo along the North Platte River when investigating pioneer wagon train routes.

Pony Express routes often paralleled stage routes and pioneer trails. This marker is near a part of the Oregon Trail in Wyoming.

In the course of my education about this area, I had been told about the Metz massacre nearby. But it wasn’t until a Red Canyon resident told his version of the story to me that I realized just how close it was to where I live. So when I had company coming and we were headed to Red Canyon for reasons of regenerative agriculture, I decided to get informed to be a better tour guide. That’s when I learned that the context of the Metz massacre in Red Canyon involved stagecoaches and so much more. For about a year beginning in 1876, the Cheyenne to Black Hills Stage ran through Red Canyon on its way to Custer and Deadwood. The reason was gold fever. The Red Canyon route was eventually abandoned by the stage company, but the route was still used by hopeful migrants. Click here to see a picture of the location of the Metz Massacre taken in 1876, about six months after the tragic event. Rarely do we have photos from this period!

The topography in the area of Red Canyon, with the steep-sided and narrow canyon itself in the mid ground.

The stage company abandoned the route in part because of a shorter route to the west, but also because of Red Canyon’s topography. One passenger described its hair-raising character: “Red Canyon was like a cake cut in two and the pieces shoved back a little. You couldn’t see the sky unless you put your head out of the coach.” (2) A picture here shows the topography of the area with the narrow slot of Red Canyon in the midground. Anyone intent on harming through-traffic had ample places to hide and advantageous positions up on the canyon walls from which to shoot or even just throw rocks to spook stock.

It was the massacre of the Metz family that eventually helped bring military attention to the area. Those responsible for the murders were never found. Some blamed it on Native Americans who certainly had ample reason to be hostile. More on that in the next story. Others say that it was likely the road agents who were active along the route. Just as Border Reivers wreaked havoc in the Fell Pony homeland in their day, road agents did similarly in their day, close to where my ponies now live.

I am grateful to my ponies for teaching me to look at landscapes with new eyes, appreciating how humans and equines have worked together in the past and can still.

The Fell Pony also has a breed description that breeders use in selection of breeding stock, so the breed is also in part a standardized one.
Spring, Agnes Wright. The Cheyenne & Black Hills Stage and Express Routes, p. 138. 2016 abridged and edited edition of the 1949 original.

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