Stage Coach Routes 1858

The transition from a riding trail to one passable for wheeled vehicles, usually drawn by oxen, was difficult, and usually involved some external assistance to the communities and farmers from the government of Lower Canada, and later, Quebec. By the 1830's, however, the principal trunk roads, although extremely rough and liable to turn into morasses at the slightest provocation, were fit for wagon and coach traffic and in the late 1830's a stage-coach service was established between St. John (with connection to Montreal via the Champlain and St. Lawrence Railroad) and Troy, Vermont passing through Frelighsburg and Sutton (Shufelt, 1965c). The roads improved enough by 1858 to allow a quite extensive stage-coach network in Brome (The Canada Directory, 1857-1858). (excerpt & drawing from A Historical Geography of Brome County: 1800-1911, by John Dereck Booth 1966)
From Jan Sabinsky