e the
stage through, you can. Do you want the job?" When a man is in love and
the wedding-day has been dreamed of, if not set, life takes on an added
sweetness, and to stake it against the marksmanship of Indian or outlaw
is not, perhaps, the best use to which it may be put. Will had come
safely through so many perils that it seemed folly to thrust his head
into another batch of them, and thinking of Louise and the coming
wedding-day, his first thought was no. But it was the old story, and
there was Trotter at his elbow expressing confidence in his ability as a
frontiersman--an opinion Will fully shared, for a man knows what he can
do. The pay was good, and the sooner earned the sooner would the wedding
be, and Trotter received the answer he expected. The stage line was
another of the Western enterprises projected by Russell, Majors &
Waddell. When gold was discovered on Pike's Peak there was no method
of traversing the great Western plain except by plodding ox-team,
mule-pack, or stagecoach. A semi-monthly stage line ran from St.
Joseph to Salt Lake City, but it was poorly equipped and very tedious,
oftentimes twenty-one days being required to make the trip. The senior
member of the firm, in partnership with John S. Jones, of Missouri,
established a new line between the Missouri River and Denver, at that
time a straggling mining hamlet. One thousand Kentucky mules were
bought, with a sufficient number of coaches to insure a daily run each
way. The trip was made in six days, which necessitated travel at the
rate of a hundred miles a day. The first stage reached Denver on May
17, 1859. It was accounted a remarkable achievement, and the line
was pronounced a great success. In one way it was; but the expense of
equipping it had been enormous, and the new line could not meet its
obligations. To save the credit of their senior partner, Russell, Majors
& Waddell were obliged to come to the rescue. They bought up all the
outstanding obligations, and also the rival stage line between St.
Joseph and Salt Lake City. They consolidated the two, and thereby hoped
to put the Overland stage route on a paying basis. St. Joseph now became
the starting-point of the united lines. From there the road went to Fort
Kearny, and followed the old Salt Lake trail, already described in
these pages. After leaving Salt Lake it passed through Camp Floyd, Ruby
Valley, Carson City, Placerville, and Folsom, and ended in Sacramento.
The distance from St.