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The Stagecoach. Getting that Mail across the West and beyond.

One of the most exciting elements of a wild west film is when the coach comes in. So much so that there is even a song in the musical Paint your Wagon about it. Before the expansion of the railroad this was the only means for mail and people to get out and back to the western frontier. Small and large communities were serviced by a privately based company such as Well Fargo and the movement of news and people were the life blood to the towns. It could take weeks for the Stagecoach to reach the end destination and it’s a lot easier now if you want to send something as a Same Day Courier Service can provide you or your business with the necessary time scales required to get that package there safe and sound. Try this Same Day Courier for start

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Its fair to say that safe and sound was up most in the owners and users of the stage coach when they got on it with a view to travelling over North America. They faced many hazards and privations. There was any number of things that could go wrong. Its wasn’t just the fact you could be stuck with a weirdo for some of the journey it was the incredibly uncomfortable ride. The “roads” were little more than dusty rutted tracks or bogs when it rained.  The stage coach had little or no suspension and rubber was not available for the wheels either. It wasn’t until 1827 when the Concord Coach was invented that things got a little easier on the behind as the coach employed a series of leather straps under the coach that made it swing. Mark Twain famously commentated that the horses at times had to walk and this was a godsend of the passengers as they could get out and walk too. This made a change from being packed into the coach and receiving a face full of dust chucked up by the wheels. The horses in teams of 2 and 4 were changed three times a trip. This meant that on average an eighty-mile trip would take up to seventeen hours to complete. It was no fun either for the driver and co-driver in the “shotgun” position. Strapped in or clinging on for dear life as the coach bounced its way across the plains and forests of North America was not fun.

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The trip was made with the full knowledge that there was a very good chance that you’d might not make it to the destination in the first place. There were bandits along the route who would do a hold up and take your valuables and even your life if there were particularly ruthless. The local native Americans would also attack as a show that the land was still there’s. You had to have a really good reason to go that’s for sure.

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