Considered the finest passenger vehicle of the time, the stagecoach traveled an average five miles an hour, changing horses at swing stations every 12 miles. With as many as nine people seated on three benches inside, one passenger described his journey as, “A through-ticket and 15 inches of seat, with a fat man on one side, a poor widow on the other, a baby in your lap, a bandbox over your head, and three or more persons immediately in front, leaning against your knees, making the picture, aswell as your sleeping place, for the trip."