An Old West Commute ‘Pilgrims’ Take Trip In Replica Of ‘Cadillac’ Stagecoach

Getting to this weekend’s Ferry County Draft Horse Show can take a while if you go by stagecoach like some of the pilgrims who arrived Friday.

Tonasket teamster Don Super admits, though, that he enjoys stretching out the 52-mile stage ride from Chesaw, in the northeastern corner of Okanogan County.

“Basically, what we did was to make a five-day camping trip out of a one-day stage run,” Super said.

He and his family, and two other families - a party of 12 in a stagecoach and a wagon - laid over Wednesday at the old ghost town of Sheridan, in the mountains about a dozen miles northeast of Wauconda. The group was looking for quartz crystals in tailings from the Sheridan Mine.

It was the maiden trip for the “mud wagon” replica Super and his wife, Kristen, acquired last month for their Highland Stage Co., which specializes in giving tourists a taste of the Old West.

Previously, the Supers made their annual journey to the draft horse show in covered wagons.

“That’s not nearly the Cadillac ride this is,” Super said as he guided his coach down an unpaved forest road. “This is heaven.”

His team of four Highland Bays - three-fourths Belgian, one-fourth Morgan - pulled the big wagon with ease. They proved as graceful and strong when a Y-turn was necessary. They stopped, side-stepped, backed up and turned in response to a few gently spoken commands.

The big horses will demonstrate other skills at the show in Republic, such as skidding logs and pulling objects a lot heavier than a mud wagon.

Super said mud wagons were commonly used in mountainous regions such as this because they were lighter than the Concorde coaches featured in old John Wayne movies. They also had wider wheels and a lower center of gravity.

The surprisingly smooth ride of Super’s coach might be considerably rougher if he kept the pace of brothers Jack and John Thorpe, who made the Chesaw-to-Republic run daily from 1891 to 1908.

“I think they must have been tougher than I am,” Super said. “I can’t imagine that they did it in less than 10 hours.”

Among other mining interests, the stage run served the Sheridan mine, established in 1896 by a former soldier who traveled through the area 13 years earlier with Gen. Philip Sheridan.

Now, the Supers maintain a stage stop near the mine and its ghost town - at a cabin that was built in 1895.

The couple has been working with horses almost two decades, ever since Don Super, in an act of mercy, bought a pair of “starving mules that were confirmed runaways.”

“Those two mules taught me everything I know,” he joked.

Super, 50, and his wife, 47, got into the passenger business in 1995 after years of horse-powered logging. Kristen Super had been diagnosed with breast cancer, and hauling tourists was an opportunity to spend more time together.

“So far, we’ve been losing a little money at it, but it keeps the horses in shape and it keeps us in shape,” Don Super said.

The family also does television commercials and movies. Their credits include the bank commercial in which gun-toting “rodeo grandmas” save Washington from California bankers who invade by stagecoach, and the “Postman” movie Kevin Costner just finished filming at Metaline Falls.

Needing a vacation, the Supers decided not to take any customers on this trip. But the vacation ended when they got to Republic Friday and were joined by other wagons for a police-escorted parade through town.

“That’s the worst part of the trip,” Don Super said. “It’s the most stressful part. Suddenly, everyone is in a hurry to go somewhere again.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Hosre show The Ferry County Draft Horse Show starts at 1 p.m. today and Sunday at the county fairgrounds in Republic. About 30 teams and up to 75 other horses are expected to participate in events that include log skidding, weight pulls and driving competitions. Horses also will be judged for physical characteristics that indicate their ability to work. Today’s events will focus mostly on single-horse competitions while Sunday will be devoted to teams. Admission is $5 for adults, $3 for children.