This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Plaisted Classification: Death Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/JW.2ADE/7766 Message Board Post: OLD STAGECOACH DRIVER PASSES Jonesy as he was affectionately called, another of Mojave’s old residents has passed to his reward. John Dudley Jones, 85, well known to people of this part of Kern County. He was born in Iowa, December 27, 1868 and arrived in California in 1895. coming to Kern County in 1915 where he has remained ever since, passed away at the Kern General Hospital on Nov. 21, 1953. Mr. Jones leaves a sister, Mrs. Rose Plaisted of 610 Ferris Ave., Los Angeles and a brother, Robert Jones of Redwood, Calif. to mourn his passing. Funeral arrangements were handled by the Armstrong Mortuary of Bakersfield. The first time Jonesy saw Mojave was in 1901, and he told us some years ago about the dusty streets and hitching racks in the front of every building, also that the northern limits of town was Mrs. Caplin’s feed yard located at J and Nadeau Sts. where the Standard Oil Co. at one time had a service station. He was in and out of Mojave up to 1906 during which time he drove stages for the Mojave and Keeler line whose depot was next door to Ma McDonald’s rooming house and the barn was where the Odd Fellows Hall now stands. The route started out K Street and roughly followed Highway 6. The first rest station where the horses were changed was located across from the Minard place and was called the 18 mile house. Time allowed for this leg of the trip was three hours and the fare was $10 to Keeler, the entire trip using up 21 hours with the stage on the road night and day. A long period of time elapsed before Jonesy saw Mojave again, to be exact in 1921. Most transportation was by automobile by then and roads a bit better. He has spent the last 32 years here and in Tehachapi watching the towns grow to their present size. Posted by East Kern Genealogical Society Courtesy of Mojave Desert News California City, Kern, CA Published: 26 Nov 1953