Passenger coaches on the Bismarck-Deadwood Stage Trail were often Concord coaches drawn by four or six horses and built for rough travel across Dakota terrain. A driver sat at the front with his legs braced on the dashboard, while mail, express, and other light baggage were usually carried on top under an iron roof rail and ropes, and heavier baggage was carried on the rear or inside the coach. Some passengers rode on top at their own risk, and at times passengers had to shift their position and weight to keep the wagon balanced. A trip on a stagecoach was often described as not unlike the swell of the ocean. Travel along the trail was generally safe, though weather, prairie fire, and robbery posed dangers. After a string of holdups during the summer of 1877, outriders and armed shotgun messengers were employed to protect the stage line from bandits known as road agents; outriders rode in front of and behind the wagon, and shotgun messengers rode beside the driver, giving rise to the term riding shotgun. The 1880 census of Morton County, Dakota Territory, showed a population heavily influenced by the freight and stage line industry, with more than 90 percent of residents single men and more than half of listed occupations tied to that work, including freighters, stage drivers, teamsters, wagon masters, stage messengers, and station keepers. Although the trail operated commercially only from 1877 to 1880, the people involved played an important role in the early development and history of the area. The Northwestern Express, Stage, and Transportation Company abandoned the trail and its station when railroad expansion reached Pierre, though locals also used the route as a farm-to-market road, and it was eventually completely deserted. Ruts from wagon trains can still be seen in some places, including at the Bismarck-Deadwood Stage Trail State Historic Site east of Flasher.