During the Gold Rush, few in the West were as notorious, fearless and formidable as the stagecoach driver. One, Charley Parkhurst, stands out in history because he was among the best — and because he was assigned female at birth.
These men would drive gold and other valuables from the far-flung mining outposts in the Sierra to the big-city banks of San Francisco. It was a treacherous journey that required expert navigation across rough terrain — but the biggest challenge became thieves. They lay in wait, eager to rob drivers and passengers of their valuable cargo.
He was tough, and he looked even tougher after he was half-blinded when a horse kicked him in the face , which earned him the nickname “One-Eyed Charley.” It’s hard to say if Parkhurst was trans because we don’t know why Parkhurst decided to live as a man. There could have been many motivations. “There's all sorts of reasons beyond perhaps a true expression of one's gendered self that someone like Parkhurst might choose to live as a man for many years.”Parkhurst ran stretches of road all around California — between Mariposa and Stockton, Oakland and San Jose, and San Juan and Santa Cruz. Parkhurst was highly sought after, working for many wealthy families, and even drove a large cargo of gold for Wells Fargo.
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