While we were visiting the Marshal Gold Discovery State Park we were fortunate to hear the tale of Charlie "Six Hands". In the 1850s, stage coach was a vital means of transportation in the West. Railroads had not yet extended very far and horses were sometimes hard to come by for common folk due to the high demand brought on by the Gold Rush. So stage coach was a key means of moving people, mail and other tangible goods - such as gold or cash money. Charlie Parkhurst was one of the most famous drivers of the day.
Charlie went by several nicknames. He was called Charlie "Darkey" because he had lost an eye when a horse kicked him in the head. He was also called Charlie "Six Hands" because of his skill at handling the reins of six horses pulling a fully loaded stage coach. This was a difficult job and not many people had the skill, stamina or guts to do it. When they were headed downhill they were pulled by a team of four horses and when going uphill it would be a team of 6 horses. The trails were treacherous, unpaved and subject to washout. The stage coaches would be occupied by nine passengers in the tiny cab and there would be up to another nine passengers seated on top. The top was usually occupied by women and children in order to keep the center of gravity lower on the coach. Driver's like Charlie not only had to manage the horses, cope with the weather and terrain but they had to also deal with bandits. On top of all that, they were responsible for he lives and safety of their passengers, their horses and their precious cargo, which was usually mail, money or gold.
Charlie had the difficult task of driving the stage coaches in the Sierras. The trip from Placerville to Sacramento was about 41 miles. Charlie would drive a team of 4 horses hard for 1 hours and only covering about 12 - 15 miles. The trip was down hill in parts so Charlie would have to manage the horses and the feeble brake on the coach. After an hour of hard driving, the horses would be spent and they would stop just long enough to change out for a fresh set of four horses. This would repeat for at least two more stops while making the trip to Sacramento. Keep in mind the nine passengers were crammed into the coach. They were knee to knee, nose to nose in the tight confines. The horses would be raising a cloud of dust that would waft through the coach. Not only that, many of the miners on the coach may have been out in the fields for months and it may have been just as long since they had a bath. If that wasn't bad enough, these weren't glassy highways that we are used to traveling on. That coach would be bouncing up, down and all around. It was not unusual for passengers to get sick in the coach. The last indignity was that for these types of conditions a passenger would have to pay $7 per person, which in todays $$ equates to $700 - all to go 42 miles. Believe it or not, the passengers in the coach had it good, whereas the passengers on top would travel in sheer terror for their lives. Young boys would typically loop their belts through the rail on the top of the coach to help them stay on. Young girls would be seated in the middle and hold on as best they could to one another. After 3 to 4 hours of this they would pull into Sacramento.
When Charlie got to Sacramento, he would take a short break and turn around and head back with a fresh load of passengers and cargo. This time with a team of six horses so that they could make the it back up the grade. Once again, the horses would be run for an hour before they would have to pull into a way station and change horse teams. The return trip could take up to 4 or 5 hours. Charlie would make this trip and others throughout the Sierras at all times of the year, in snow, rain and sleet. It was a tough life and Charlie was equally tough. By all accounts he was a hard individual that lived hard, drank hard, gambled hard and could curse a blue streak to the horses or any passenger that got out of line. In the end, what made Charlie famous was that he never lost a coach, passenger or horse. Charlie would eventually leave the Sierras and make his way down to drive a stage coach between Santa Cruz and San Jose, equally demanding because of the grade. It is said that Charlie could foresee the days of stage coach driving coming to an end as progress kept making its way into California. Eventually, Charlie settled in Watsonville, CA where he raised chickens and had an orchard. One day in 1879 Charlie up and died. He was 67, which was a pretty ripe old age for someone that lived the hard life that Charlie did.
Even after Charlie had retired from stage coach driving, he was still highly respected for his service as a driver. Accordingly, he would be buried with distinction. As was the custom in this instance, the body would be washed and dressed in fine clothes, as should be the case when meeting ones maker. It was only then that it was discovered the Charlie "Six Hands" was actually Charlotte. It was only in death that historians were able to piece together the interesting life of Charlotte Parkhurst. She was orphaned at a young age in Vermont. She was adopted by a blacksmith and taught to handle horses and eventually how to handle a team of horses on a wagon. She became quite accomplished at it. It is not totally clear when or why, Charlotte adopted the persona of Charlie. One thing that was clear was that Charlotte would have no opportunity to drive a stage coach in the West, but a "Charlie" would. So it was Charlie that made the migration to the West and in the process became one of the most celebrated and famous stage coach drivers of the Gold Rush and it had nothing to do with the fact that she was a woman, but everything to do with the fact that she was one of the best at what she did.
Way to go Charlie!
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