"A requisite of the old-fashioned wagon or stage town hotel or of the wayside inn was a large room used as an office and bar-room and as a sleeping place for the wagoners. In it was a large open fireplace which was abundantly supplied with wood in the early days, and later with coal. Around this, when the horses were cared for and the evening's diversion was over, the wagoners spread their bunks in a sort of semi-circle with their feet to the fire, for they were said to be much subjected to rheumatism, and this position was taken as a preventative…. Wagoners drove in all kinds of weather and the descent of a mountain or large hill was often attended with great danger, especially when it was covered with ice. The day's journey of a regular wagoner when heavily laden, was rather less than over 20 miles, and 100 miles in a week was a fair average…. The average load hauled was about 6,000 pounds for a six horse team. Sometimes four tons were put on, and even five tons which the wagoner boastfully called 'a hundred hundred,' were hauled, but these were rare exceptions." Boucher's Century and a half of Pittsburg.