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Changing Mules without the aid of Stage Stations

Superintendent I. C. Woods gave this in his report:

"On my return trip from San Diego, I brought my mules into our Maricopa station in much
better condition than when I left Fort Yuma with them. My practice was this: while one of
my two teams of mules as working in the coaches for a couple of hours at a walk, I would
have the other team under charge of an experienced man, either ahead or behind the
coaches, eating their fill of grass, beans or what every they could find. At the end of two
hours we would change teams, giving the other set of mules their chance for loitering be-
hind to eat. …We keep a mulada at Fort Yuma for our changes, which we send out every
day to feed in the river bottom, under charge of a Mexican herder, bringing them in at night
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for safety."

Correspondent Charles F. Huning wrote from Fort Yuma: "We started again next
morning—change of coach and animals. Six mules were hitched on, and as many
more for relays; there were three drivers, one for the coach, one side driver, and
another for the loose mules."
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Meals along the Trail

A company ad in an Arizona newspaper published in mid-1859 gave this for sup-
plying meals along the trail: "Passengers are provided with provisions during the
trip, except where the coach stops at Public Houses along the Line, at which each
passenger will pay for his own meal."
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Phocion R. Way writes that meals were taken along the trail and prepared by a
Mexican cook: "At dinner today [at Cow Springs in New Mexico] our Mexican cook
gathered some wild sage plant and made some tea which some of the party liked
very well, but I did not; the sage taste was too strong." Near Dragoon Springs: "…our
captain shot at an antelope as we came along, but he did not hit it. It was too far off.
We were all very anxious that he should hit it for we have had no fresh meat for 2
days." Arriving in Tucson he writes:

"There was no fresh meat to be had and we have been in a bad fix if the mail party had not
kindly invited us to eat with them. Even they could procure nothing and were compelled to
live on the remains of the provisions they had on the road, a little bacon and coffee and
bread so hard from age that you could not bite it. They have to do their own cooking and
all travelers must do the same or hire a Mexican to do it for them. Our fare, as bad as it is,
is better than the average in this town. We spread our old greasy cloth on the ground in the
corral. Some of the hungry citizens watched us while we were at our meals, and when we
were through, they eagerly devoured the scraps. I have just learned that our captain has
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succeeded in buying a roast of beef. If this proves true, won't we have a feast today?"
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