The Stant Rhea Stage Stand

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Stant Rhea Stage Stand, out here in Hale County. Now, before there were roads across the South Plains, before there were railroads cutting through this wide open country, folks in this area had one thin thread connecting them to the rest of the world. They had to ride out to the railheads just to pick up their mail.

Think about that for a moment. The whole world, arriving on horseback, if it arrived at all. Things started to change in July and August of 1888, when a man named W.

L. Tharp took a mail route from the new railroad town of Amarillo all the way down to Plainview and Estacado. No roads to speak of.

Just open plains and a compass sense. That round trip took six days. Then, about 1889, a man named W.

H. Fuqua out of Amarillo had himself a new United States mail contract. He did it the practical way.

He took a compass and laid off a route, marking several stations along the way, one of them at Plainview. He added passenger service not long after. But then he disposed of the line, and about 1890, it fell into the hands of two men: Stant Rhea and Robert Montgomery.

Rhea bought out Montgomery. And that's where the real story begins. Sidney Stanton Rhea, known to everyone simply as Stant, was born in 1862 and died in 1922.

He was a small man. Red-haired. And he drove wild Spanish mules hitched to a buckboard, or a carriage, depending on the day.

Three times a week, Stant Rhea made the two-hundred-and-forty-mile round trip from Amarillo to this area. Later, when the routes changed and the roads got better, he came through daily. Six miles east of where you're sitting right now, on private property, Stant had a mule corral and a dugout.

That dugout served as a waiting room for stage passengers and mail patrons. Not much to look at, probably. But out here on the South Plains, it was a landmark.

It was civilization. Stant Rhea carried the mail for nineteen years. Nineteen years of Spanish mules and open plains and six-day round trips, whittled down over time to something almost resembling a schedule.

He kept going until the railroads finally outmoded his service, the way railroads have a habit of outmoding things. The marker puts it plainly, and plainly is the right way to say it: Stant Rhea's route and stand were important in the development of the South Plains. A small, red-haired man with wild mules and a compass bearing, threading the mail across a roadless country three times a week.

Sometimes the thread is the whole story.

What the marker says

(6 miles east, on private property) Early settlers in this area kept in touch with the world by picking up their mail at railheads. Federal mail delivery to post offices began when W. L. Tharp took a route from the new railroad town of Amarillo to Plainview and Estacado in July and August, 1888. There were no roads; the round trip took six days. About 1889, W. H. Fuqua of Amarillo, who had a new U.S. mail contract, used a compass and laid off a route with several stations--one at Plainview. He soon added passenger service, but then disposed of the line, which about 1890 fell into the hands of Stant Rhea and Robert Montgomery. Buying out Montgomery, Rhea carried the mail for 19 years. Sidney Stanton--"Stant"--Rhea (1862-1922) was a small, red-haired man who drove wild Spanish mules hitched to a buckboard (or carriage). He made the 240-mile round trip from Amarillo to this area three times a week. With later route changes and better roads, he came this way daily. Six miles east of this spot he had a mule corral and a dugout. Stage passengers and mail patrons used the dugout as a waiting room. Until railroads outmoded his service, Stant Rhea's route and stand were important in the development of the South Plains. (1976)