Travel Tribulations of 1875
Calvin Wiley’s tliarv reveals difficulty of
pelting around North Carolina.
Il is hard for us in this day of good
roads and fine bridges, rapid travel by
motor coach or private car, luxurious
railroad and airship service, to realize
the dangers and discomforts which
confronted the traveler of the 1870‘s
and 188()'s in North Carolina and
other Southern States.
As District Superintendent of the
American Bible Society 1874 to his
death 1887 for the territory of North
and South Carolina, my father. Rev.
Calvin H. Wiley, D.D., had to make
frequent and long field trips, traveling
by rail or old-fashioned hack or buggy
in all kinds of weather, literally from
the mountains to the sea. The follow¬
ing excerpts from the Diary he kept
during this period, arranged by topic
rather than year, give a graphic pic¬
ture of the hardships of travel seventy-
and-more years ago in this section of
the United States.
Delays and Dangers
Left Wadesboro at I p.m. after wait¬
ing nearly three hours at depot. The
railroad (Carolina Central) is in a
very bad condition & not at all safe,
& after some 8 or 10 miles the front
wheels of the mail coach jumped off
the track. The coach turned over and
the tender broke loose. All the tracks
but one were broken & torn up. By
the mercy of God no one was hurt.
We all had to ride on the tender, ap¬
parently perilous trip to Rockingham,
Richmond County, 9 miles. (January
14, 1875.)
About 17 miles from Columbia,
By
МАКУ
C. WILEY
S. C. there was a wreck of part of the
passenger train this afternoon and
when we arrived about 4:40 p.m. the
track had not been replaced. Here we
were detained unto 11:10 p.m. It was
bitterly cold with a high wind. We ar¬
rived at Columbia at midnight. Raven¬
ously hungry, sent out a Negro to for¬
age & at high cost he brought us very
hard and stale crackers, cheese &
canned salmon fish. Of course I missed
connection to Orangeburg (where he
had an appointment to present the
Bible cause at 7:30 p.m. to the Con¬
ference of the Methodist Episcopal
Church, South, in session in that
place). (December 15, 1886.)
By Private Conveyance
Arrived at the Gulf (Gulf. N. C.)
at I p.m. This is the depot at which
one is most likely to obtain a con¬
veyance to Pittsboro. but 1 found con¬
siderable difficulty in procuring one.
Finally a friend, Mr. Me Iver, sent to
his plantation two miles and got a
horse & loaned me his buggy, which
was in a very unsafe slate. I hired a
colored man to drive me & bring the
conveyance back. . . .
Four miles from town, the tire of a
wheel started off & we had to nail it
on as best as we could. It was 15
miles to Pittsboro & a very rough road.
I arrived there at 8:30 p.m. very tired.
(April 25, 1885.)
To my surprise I found it very hard
to get a conveyance to the railroad.
1 disliked to speak for one on Sunday
& early this morning those kept for
hire were gone. . . . The Methodist
minister & others interested themselves
& finally we got a horse, buggy &
driver from a good lady.
The morning was cool & clear but
I could not get off until the heat of
the day. The buggy was very small
with no back & having to hold on to
the sides I could not hold my um¬
brella open all the time.
The lady told me to go six miles
an hour. We had just 2 hours & 20
minutes to go 1 3 miles to Egypt & hit
the train. By Divine favor I arrived at
Egypt just 10 minutes before the train
left, the horse was much jaded. (Mon¬
day, April 27, 1885.)
On the way to Dallas from Lincoln-
ton (by hack) a large live rattlesnake
lay across the road; my driver, a
colored man, killed it with a pole; it
had 6 rattles. (August II, 1879.)
Had intended to go. by private con¬
veyance. to Mocksvillc, where I had
an appointment for tonight, but an
intervening creek was not fordable &
yesterday the Yadkin river was up &
rising & I found the ferry between
Mocksvillc & Winston might not be
safe. (August 30, 1874.)
Reckless Run
Left Greensboro 2 hours behind time
at
61Л
p.m. & arrived at Charlotte at
{Continued on page 35)
THE STATE. SEPTEMBER 17. 1960
1 3