Her Ruby Shoe Moment

Delia Haskett climbed up to the driver’s seat of the Wells Fargo stagecoach and took the reins of the four horses who would be her only company on the 20 mile trip from her home in Ukiah, California to Willits.  The stagecoach was loaded with mail for delivery, including packages of gold, silver, and other valuables. The postmaster warned her to watch out for the band of highway robbers that had been reported in the area. It was 1875, and no woman had ever carried the U.S. Mail before, much less a 14 year old girl like Delia. 

There were no passengers scheduled on this trip, so she would be driving all by herself, well into the night, to complete the 12 hour round trip.  It was her responsibility alone to keep her horses watered, rested, and safe.  Plus, Delia didn’t have a smartphone – there was no Google maps – so she had to rely on paper maps and her father’s instructions to find her way to Willits and back.  She would have no way to call or contact anyone if she got lost. 

Delia left Ukiah mid-afternoon and headed north-northeast to Willits.  Stagecoaches traveled an average of 4-5 miles per hour, not including stops.  Her route took her past the Blue Lakes, which were named for the dark blue color that reflected their immense depth of up to 180 feet.  Delia knew that the local Pomo Indians would not go near the lakes, as they believed that a monster lived in their depths.  Upper Blue Lake was 1.2 miles long, which gave Delia plenty of time to watch for the fabled creature. 

Delia finally arrived in Willits around 8:30pm that evening.  She took some time to unload her cargo, feed and water the horses, re-load the coach with deliveries for Ukiah, and set off again, this time in the dark.  Around midnight, she stopped to let her horses drink some water.  She heard mens’ voices and realized a group of them were riding up to her coach.  She debated whether she should hide, but decided to stay with the horses and coach.  She breathed a sigh of relief when their voices became clearer – they were singing hymns as they returned from a church meeting!  She arrived home safely at 3:00am, proud and ready for bed.    

The Power of the Wand

Delia’s signature combination of mail delivery and passenger entertainment lives on today. Check out the teen mail jumpers on Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, where every summer, mail is delivered to lake homes via a U.S. Mailboat. The mail jumpers hop from the front of the boat to private docks with mailboxes, deliver the mail, and hop on the back of the boat. The trick – the boat never stops moving! The trip around the lake takes 2.5 hours, and the teens also serve as tour guides for the boat passengers who ride along.

Her Yellow Brick Road

Although she was barely into her teens, Delia had been preparing for her solo drive for years.  Her dad was the local Wells Fargo stage line agent, which meant he was in charge of making sure the stagecoaches ran through Ukiah on time.  Delia often rode with him when he was driving, and he had taught her how to handle the horses.

Delia dreamed of driving the coach herself, but knew it was considered a man’s job because of the potential dangers involved. Stagecoaches carried valuable packages in a strongbox, which was a pine, oak and cast iron safe locked and stored under the driver’s seat. Wells Fargo coaches were regularly stopped by highwaymen intent on stealing money and precious minerals being shipped. 

Delia needed an extraordinary circumstance to present itself, and on that day, one finally did.  At the last minute, the regular driver on the Ukiah-Willits mail route got sick and could not make the trip.  Delia saw her chance to drive the team herself and convinced her dad to let her fill in.  With her first solo drive, Delia proved to her dad and the other coach drivers that she could do the job and do it well. They were impressed that she had navigated the road, which at some points was a poorly marked trail, and had trusted in her skills and the horses to help find the way.  From that day on, her dad agreed that she could be a regular back-up stage driver. 

Her primary route was the round trip from Ukiah to Lakeport.  Each leg of the route was 45 miles long and took 8-9 hours.  This route was more than double the distance of her initial one and involved some rugged and isolated terrain. 

Delia drove her coach over the Cow Mountain Range, past Lower and Upper Blue Lake, through sparsely settled Scotts Valley and then on to Lakeport. Delia, like most drivers, had a whip made to her exact specification, called a “mule whip” and she was known for her skill in using it to control the horses, which won her the respect of the Pomo Indians in the area.

Delia wasn’t always alone on her trips.  She loved it when there were passengers in her coach to keep her company.  The fare was $3.00.  Passengers loved it when Delia was their driver because they got an extra special treat.  In addition to her skills with horses and guns, Delia had a beautiful singing voice and would entertain her passengers with songs as the travelled.  The infamous highwayman Black Bart rode on Delia’s stagecoaches a few times, but he never held her up.  Maybe he was too entertained by her songs to want to disrupt the drive with a robbery!

Brains, Heart & Courage

Delia’s parents were early pioneers, who moved west before she was born.  Delia’s mom was a schoolteacher.  Her dad, in addition to being the Wells Fargo station agent, was also a blacksmith and owned the Ukiah Hotel.

Delia learned how to ride a horse and shoot a gun when she was young.  She grew into an accomplished racer, trick rider and roper.  As a teenager and young adult, she also won several shooting contests, and reportedly could shoot and hit a nickel thrown in mid-air with her rifle. 

One of the things Delia loved most of all was to ride along with her dad when he was driving the stagecoach.  The Ukiah stagecoach was pulled by a team of four horses: a “leader pair” in the front, and a “wheeler pair” behind them that carried the weight of the coach. Her dad set up the reins so one driver could handle four horses.  This method of driving was called “four in hand” because the reins of all four horses were held in the driver’s left hand, leaving the right hand free for a whip, if needed to control the horses.

When Delia was little, her dad let her hold the reins of the horses, which she called “ribbons.”  Eventually, he taught her how to drive the “four in hand” teams.  Delia had to learn how to move and pull each rein with her left hand.

Glinda’s Gallery

Visit Delia’s digital scrapbook on Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/theglindafactor/dolores-haskett-rawson/

Just the Facts

• Delia was born on December 7, 1861 in California, just after the Civil War began.
• Wells Fargo was founded as a banking and delivery company during the Gold Rush. Miners needed safe way to transport and store gold, silver, and other valuable metals. Wells Fargo used stagecoaches to deliver packages because there were no railroads connecting the Western towns, and the available roads were muddy and often carved into mountains and cliffs.
• Delia was the first (and maybe only) woman to carry the US Mail as a stagecoach driver.
• A man named Charles Bolles, otherwise known as “Black Bart”, rode on Delia’s route a few times.  She didn’t know that he was a wanted man who robbed at least 28 stagecoaches between 1875-1883.  Strangely, Black Bart became known for his “politeness and good manners.”  His strategy was to ride alongside the stagecoach with a shotgun and ask the driver to “please thrown down the box.”  Black Bart never touched or robbed a passenger and often left behind a verse of poetry.  It was also later discovered that he never loaded his shotgun with bullets.  Wells Fargo detectives finally caught him in 1883 and he spent four years in prison
• Delia’s nickname was “Dusty” because she would grease back her hair when she drove to keep it out of her eyes and dust from the road would cover it. 
• Delia drove the Ukiah to Lakeport run until 1885, when she got married and moved to Southern California with her new husband. 
• Delia’s second career was running a successful 10 acre orange grove in San Dimas, California. 
• Delia was so well known that when the Pioneer Stage Drivers of California Association was founded in 1934, she was invited to join.  She was the only woman invited to belong and eventually served as its Vice President.
• Delia died in 1949 at age 87.

Want to Know More?

Seagraves, Anne. Daughters of the West (Wesanne Publications 1996)

Fort Bragg Advocate-News. “First Female Wells Fargo Stage Driver Drove the Roads of Mendocino County.” Ukiah Daily Journal, 24 Oct. 2015.

 Blackstock, Joe. “Delia Haskett Set the Stage for California Women.” Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, 28 Mar. 2011.

 Wozniak, Edward. “Dusty Delia: Female Stagecoach Driver.” Balladeer’s Blog, 30 July 2017.

Weiser, Kathy. “Delia Haskett Rawson – Carrying the US Mail.” Legends of America, updated December 2019.

Reeves, Gwen. “Female Stagecoach Drivers.” The Red Rock Valley Voice.