As soon as Russell, Majors, & Waddell took hold of the line, the time between St. Joseph and Salt Lake, a distance of twelve hundred miles, was reduced to ten days.  The coach ran daily both ways, and stations were established at distances varying from ten to fifteen miles along the whole route.

The original trail ran up the valley of the Smoky Hill, or the Smoky Hill Fork of the Republican,[35] but was shortly after changed to the valley of the Platte, and starting from St. Joseph,[36] went on to Fort Kearney, thence following the river to Julesburg, where it crossed the stream.  From there to Fort Laramie, to Fort Bridger, thence to Salt Lake, through Camp Floyd, Ruby Valley, Carson City, Placerville, and Folsom to Sacramento.[37]

The old-line coach was a grand swinging and swaying vehicle, an imposing cradle on wheels, and hung on thoroughbraces instead of springs.  It was drawn by six handsome horses or mules, which were changed every ten miles on the average; and they fairly flew over the level road.  Baggage was limited to twenty-five pounds, which, with the care of the passengers, mail, and express, was in charge of the conductor, who was the legitimate captain of the strange craft in its long journey across the continent.  He sat beside the driver on the box, and both of them used to sleep in their places thirty or forty minutes at a time, while spinning along on good roads at the rate of eight or ten miles an hour.

Over each two hundred and fifty miles of road an agent was installed, and was invested with great authority.  His geographical jurisdiction was known as a “division,” and his duty consisted in purchasing horses, mules, harness, and the food for both men and animals.  He distributed these things at the different stage-stations when, according to his judgment, they needed them.  He also had charge of the erection of all buildings and the water-supply, usually wells.  He also paid the station-keepers, hostlers, drivers, and blacksmiths, and he engaged and discharged whomsoever he pleased; in fact, he was a great man in his division, and generally a man of more than average intelligence.

The conductor’s tour of duty was about the same length as the agent’s, or about two hundred and fifty miles.  He sat with the driver, and often, when necessary, rode that great distance all night and all day without other rest or sleep than that he could obtain while in his seat on top of the flying coach.  Drivers went back over the same route—­over exactly the same length of road, and naturally became so familiar with it that the darkest night had no terrors for them.

The distance from St. Joseph to Sacramento by the stage-coach route was nearly nineteen hundred miles.  The trip was often made in fifteen days, but the time specified by the mail contracts, and required by the government schedule, was limited to nineteen days.  This was to give ample allowance for possible winter storms and snows, or other causes of detention.