CH. I DEVELOPMENT OF THE COACH 5 



It is sometimes supposed that the American coach 

 was invented especially for use on the early, rough 

 American roads ; but it is evidently the European 

 vehicle of the latter part of the 18th century, arrested 

 in its development, because the condition of the 

 roads in those parts of the United States where 

 coaches were used, resembled the conditions exist- 

 ing at that time in Europe. 



In America, the vehicle called the 'stage-waggon,' 

 which preceded the coach, was evidently evolved 

 from the carrier's wagon, keeping its essential form 

 but being much lighter. 



There is shown in Fig. 2, copied from an Amer- 

 ican newspaper of 1759, a 'stage-waggon' run- 



Fig. 2. 



ning between Philadelphia and New York. Fig. 

 3 is from a paper of 1 8 1 2 representing a ' stage' 

 on the same road, and shows the same general 

 form, improved after an interval of fifty-three 

 years. 



The ' Concord coach,' which succeeded this, was 

 an adaptation of the private coach, or chariot, to the 



