DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my take on what the official marker has to say about the High Lonesome Stage Stand, out in Crockett County. Now, the name alone ought to tell you something. High Lonesome.
You don't call a place that unless the land around it has earned the title. And out here in Crockett County, west Texas has a way of making a point. This was the first station you'd hit after rolling out of Ozona on the San Angelo-Ozona mail line.
Twenty miles into an eighty-six-mile run, and already the horses were ready for a rest. Can't say I blame them. The stand itself was built in 1902, and it served one of the last commercial stage lines Texas ever had — which means by the time this place was in its prime, the rest of the country had mostly moved on.
Texas, as is its custom, held out a little longer. Ten horses were kept here. Ten.
And that wasn't unusual, because each of the three other stations on the line kept ten horses too. You had Shoeingstand — and yes, that name means exactly what you think, because that's where the horses got reshod every six weeks. Then there was Sherwood, and Knickerbocker.
Four stations, forty horses, eighty-six miles of caliche and scrub and sky. Now, who was riding these hacks? Well, the marker doesn't dress it up.
Whiskey drummers — that's peddlers, for the uninitiated. Lightning rod salesmen. And preachers.
Three kinds of men who each believed, in their own particular way, that they had something you desperately needed. You can picture them bouncing along together in the same coach, each one sizing up the other two. But here's the thing about progress — it doesn't ask permission and it doesn't say goodbye.
Automobiles showed up in 1908. The railroad came through in 1910. And just like that, the hacks on this line were out of business.
The horses were gone. The drummers and the preachers found faster ways to make their rounds. The High Lonesome Stage Stand built in 1902, swallowed by 1910.
Out here, even the last things don't last long.
What the marker says
First station after leaving Ozona on the San Angelo-Ozona mail line. Here, at the 20-mile point of an 86-mile run, fresh horses awaited. The stand, built in 1902, served one of Texas' last commercial stage lines. Ten horses were kept here, as at the three other stations: Shoeingstand (where the horses were reshod each six weeks), Sherwood, and Knickerbocker. Frequent riders were whiskey drummers (peddlers), lightning rod salesmen and preachers. Automobiles (1908) and finally the railroad (1910) put the "hacks" on this line out of business.