The Complete List of Old West Trailblazers, Cowboys, and Stagecoach Drivers

Trailblazers, Cowboys & Stagecoach Kings

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Charles C. Haynes (1837-??) - One of the most prominent drivers on the Overland Stage Line, Haynes was born in Ohio in 1837. He began his staging career in Ohio in 1855, working on the Columbus Pike, which ran between Cleveland and Medina. The next year, he was in Michigan working on the Grand Rapids, Detroit and Allegan Roads. When the Overland Mail Company was organized, haynes went to Missouri in 1858, first driving on the Independence Road. The following year, he was driving for the Kansas Stage Company on the old Fort Leavenworth and Fort Riley military road. When the Civil War erupted in 1861, the Overland Mail route moved north and Haynes drove a number of route between Atchison, Kansas and the Rocky Mountains until 1865. In 1866, he was in California, working for Wells-Fargo. Two years later, he was in Salt Lake City, driving the Montana Road for Wells Fargo and in 1869, was working the road between Salt Lake City and Austin, Nevada. In the Fall of 1870, he went to work for the Northwestern Stage Company as division agent for the 275 mile route between Elko, Nevada to Boise City, Idaho. In 1872, he was working as a Division Agent on the Overland Stage line between Boise City to Kelton, Idaho, a position he retained until 1875. After several more transfers to California, Nevada and Idaho and operating a few small route on his own, he retired to a ranch on Goose Creek in Idaho. He then bought an old Concord coach built by the Abbot-Downing Company, which he drove for tourists to the Falls of Shoshone, Idaho. Haynes also served as a U.S. Deputy Marshal under Fred T. Du Boise and Joseph Rinkhaus, was a constable of Shoshone, Idaho for many years, and acted as the first sheriff of Lincoln County, Idaho.

Ben Holladay (1819-1887) - Born in Kentucky on October 19, 1819 and raised in Weston, Missouri, Holladay would grown up to become known as the "Stagecoach King." Helping his father to lead wagon trains through the Cumberland Gap, Holladay learned the business at an early age. Beginning his career by furnishing supplies to General Stephen Kearny in the Mexican War, he was involved with a number of successful business ventures in Weston, Missouri before moving to California and starting the Overland Stage Route.

By the spring of 1864 his stage line dominated the passenger, mail, and freighting business between the Missouri River and Salt Lake City, controlling more than 2500 miles of stage lines and was among the largest individual employers in the United States.

Two year later he sold his routes to Wells Fargo Express in 1866 for $1.5 million and moved to Oregon. He then formed a steamboat business called the Northern Pacific Transportation Company that operated from Alaska to Mexico. He also built the Oregon and California Railroad as far south as Roseburg before the Panic of 1873 financial crisis stopped the effort.

Having also dabbled in gold and silver mines, distilleries, slaughter houses, and a number of retail operations, the transportation millionaire, maintained several mansions in New York, Washington, D.C., and Oregon by the time he was 50. He spent the last years of his life involved in a number of law suits related to his complex financial holdings and died in Portland on July 8, 1887 at the age of 68.

Ben Holladay

James Wales Miller - A stagecoach driver for Wells-Fargo, Miller established the first stage line between Auburn and Sacramento, California. Nattily dressed with silver stars on his hat and a silver-banded whip, he would add to his "silver collection," after he outran several would-be road agents in the 1860s. Wells Fargo was so grateful that he saved a $30,000 payroll shipment that they asked him what he would like as a reward. Miller responded, "A dame big bullion watch." To that, Wells Fargo gave him a silver watch and chain that together weighed approximately two and one-half pounds. The watch was about three inches in circumference, and one inch wide.

George "Alfred" F. Monroe (1844-1886) - Considered one of the most skilled stage drivers of the time, George Monroe, more familiarly called "Alfred," was a mulatto and former slave who came west from Georgia at the age of 11. His father, who worked as a barber in the mining camps, was able to purchase his freedom. From a young age, Monroe developed a knack for training and driving horses and at the age of 22, took a job as a stagecoach driver for A.H. Washburn and Company (later known as the Yosemite Stage and Turnpike Company), driving a route along Wawona Road, from Mariposa into the Yosemite Valley. Monroe quickly earned a reputation as one of the best stagecoach drivers for the company, expertly navigating treacherous cliff-side roads and never once causing injury to his passengers, horses, or coaches during his twenty years of service. His main notoriety came from driving a number of presents including Ulysses S. Grant and his family in 1879, and later visits from Presidents James A. Garfield and Rutherford B. Hayes; as well as other famous people of the time including journalists, artists, entertainers, and politicians. He was described as alert, mild mannered, and well-dressed, always wearing white gauntlets embroidered in silk, an expensive hat, and boots that shined like mirrors. His boss, Henry Washburn, would say of him: "I have never known another such as an all-round reins man as George Monroe. He was a wonder in every way.He drove over my lines for nearly twenty years and never injured a person. I always put him on the box when there was a distinguished party to be driven, and fast and showy was expected or necessary, and he never disappointed me or exceeded the limit schedule or fell behind." His expertise garnered him the nickname of “Knight of the Sierras.” Ironically, he would die as a result of injuries sustained in a wagon crash on November 15, 1886. This time; however, Monroe was not the driver, but a passenger.

Henry James “Hank” Monk (1833?-1883) - One of the most famous stagecoach drivers in the American West, Henry James Monk, more familiarly known as “Hank,” drove the stage from Genoa, Utah to Placerville, California. Born in Waddington, New York, he made his way to California as a young man, crossing the Isthmus of Panama and arriving in 1852. He first went to work for James Birch on the Auburn stage line where he stayed until 1857. He then became a driver on the Genoa-Placerville route.

He became famous when he took Horace Greeley, famed New York Daily Tribune journalist, for a wild ride in 1859. Transporting Greeley over the Sierra Nevada Mountains from Virginia City, Nevada to Placerville, California, the writer complained that the trip was taking to long and he needed to reach his destination more quickly as he had an appointment for a lecture.

Henry James Monk

In response to Greeley’s complaints, Hank yelled back, “Keep your seat, Horace; I’ll get you there on time!” and began to furiously drive the team. Later, Greeley wrote of the wild ride which became a legend as the tale was told and retold.

Later he went to work for the Pioneer Stage Company, a route from the Sacramento Valley to Utah. Over the years, he picked up several nicknames including the “Knight of the Lash,” and the “King of Coachmen.” He continued to drive a stagecoach until he succumbed to pneumonia on February 28, 1883 at Carson City, Nevada, where he was buried. Upon his tombstone was inscribed, “Sacred to the memory of Hank Monk, the whitest, biggest-hearted and best-known stage driver in the West.”

The San Jose Pioneer newspaper of the time wrote of him: “It is said that strangers visiting Carson City would no more think of departing without having seen Hank Monk than a visitor to Rome would omit to take a look at St. Peter’s.”

Bill Hickok, Texas Jack Omohundro, and Buffalo Bill. This image available for photographic prints and

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John Baker "Texas Jack" Omohundro (1846-1880) - A frontier scout and cowboy who joined up with Buffalo Bill Cody to perform in his Wild West Show, Jack was born at Pleasure Hill, Virginia on July 26, 1846 to to John B. and Catherine Omohundro. From an early age, he beame a proficient hunter, horseman and skilled gunsman and was known to have loved adventure. In his early teens, he made his way to Texas where he worked as a cowboy. Though he would have liked to have joined the Confederate Army as a soldier when the Civil War broke out, he was too young. Later, in 1864, he enlisted as a courier and scout under General J.E.B. Stuart.

At war’s end, he returned to working as a cowboy and on a cattle drive to Tennessee, he received the nickname “Texas Jack.” On one of his cattle drives to Nebraska, he met William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody, who was then working as a scout for the U.S. Army at Fort McPherson.

Cody admired Jack’s skills as a horseman and marksman and the two quickly became friends. Talking Jack into also staying in Nebraska and working as an army scout, the former cowboy soon made his home in Cottonwood Springs, where he also spent considerable time as a buffalo hunter. Together, he and Cody acted as guides for the army and were involved in several Indian skirmishes together.

In December, 1872, Jack appeared in Buffalo Bill's debut of The Scouts of the Prairie, in Chicago, produced by Ned Buntline. Jack continued to work in the shows and was the first performer to introduce roping acts. The next year, "Wild Bill" Hickok joined the show. That same year, he also married a dancer and actress named Josephine Morlacchi, who also was a performer in the Wild West Shows. Throughout the rest of the decade, Texas Jack divided his time between performances and guiding hunting parties on the Great Plains. By 1877, he was heading his own acting troupe in St Louis, as well as writing articles about his hunting and scouting experiences. He and his wife, Josephine, settled in Leadville, Colorado, but, for Texas Jack, the thrills of adventure, marriage, and performing would be brief. When he was just 33 years old, he died of pneumonia in Leadville on June 28, 1880. Buffalo Bill donated his headstone and he was buried in Leadville's Evergreen Cemetery. His wife, Josephine never recovered from her grief and didn’t appear on the stage again. She retired in seclusion in Massachusetts, where she died at age 39 of cancer.

During his life and after his death, his legend grew in many dime novels and magazine articles. In 1910, Buffalo Bill' described him thusly: "He was an expert trailer and scout. I soon recognized this and... secured his appointment in the United States service...In this capacity I learned to know him and to respect his bravery and ability. He was a whole-souled, brave, generous, good-hearted man...who was one of my dearest and most intimate friends.” In 1994, Texas Jack Omohundro was inducted into the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

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