The
Butterfield Overland Mail Trail, also known as the
Oxbow Route, the
Butterfield Overland Stage, or the
Butterfield Stage, was a
stagecoachA stagecoach is a type of four-wheeled closed coach for passengers and goods, strongly sprung and drawn by four horses, usually four-in-hand. Widely used before the introduction of railway transport, it made regular trips between stages or stations, which were places of rest provided for stagecoach...
route in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, operating from 1857 to 1861. It was a conduit for the United States mail from two eastern termini,
Memphis, TennesseeMemphis is a city in the southwest corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. Memphis rises above the Mississippi River on the 4
th Chickasaw Bluff just south of the mouth of the Wolf River....
and
St. Louis, MissouriSt. Louis is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. With an estimated population of 354,361 in 2008, it is the principal municipality of Greater St. Louis, population 2,866,517, the largest urban area in Missouri and sixteenth largest in the United States...
, meeting
Fort Smith, ArkansasFort Smith is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of Arkansas and one of the two county seats of Sebastian County. With a population of 80,268 at the 2000 census, it is the principal city of the Fort Smith, Arkansas-Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Area, a region of 288,818 residents which...
, and continuing through
Indian TerritoryThe Indian Territory, also known as the Indian Territories and the Indian Country, was land set aside within the United States for the use of Native Americans...
,
New MexicoNew Mexico is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. Inhabited by Native American populations for many centuries, it has also been part of the Imperial Spanish viceroyalty of New Spain, part of Mexico, and a U.S. territory. Among U.S...
, and
ArizonaThe State of Arizona is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. The capital and largest city is Phoenix. The second largest city is Tucson, followed in size by the four Phoenix metropolitan area cities of Mesa, Glendale, Chandler, and Scottsdale.Arizona was the 48th and...
, ending in
San Francisco, CaliforniaSan Francisco is the fourth most populous city in California and the 12th most populous city in the United States, with a 2008 estimated population of 808,976. It is the eighth most densely populated city in the U.S. and is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the larger San...
.
Origins
The stage was an early operation of
American ExpressAmerican Express Company , sometimes known as "AmEx", is a diversified global financial services company that is headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1850, it is one of the 30 components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is best known for its credit card, charge card, and...
and
Wells FargoWells Fargo & Co. is a diversified financial services company with operations around the world. Wells Fargo is the fourth largest bank in the US by assets and the third largest bank by market cap. Wells Fargo is the second largest bank in deposits, home mortgage servicing, and debit card...
.
Through the 1840s and 1850s there was a desire for better communication between the east and west coasts of the United States of America. Though there were several proposals for railroads connecting the two coasts a more immediate realization was an overland mail route across the west. The Post Office Department advertised for bids for an overland mail service on April 20, 1857. Bidders were to propose routes from the Mississippi River westward.
John W. ButterfieldJohn Warren Butterfield was an operator of stagecoach and freight lines in the mid-1800s in the American Northeast and Southwest. He founded companies that became American Express and Wells Fargo. From 1858 to 1861 he ran a stage route running from St...
and his associates William B. Dinsmore,
William G. FargoWilliam George Fargo , pioneer American expressman, was born in Pompey, New York. From the age of thirteen he had to support himself, obtaining little schooling, and for several years he was a clerk in grocery stores in Syracuse....
, James V. P. Gardner, Marcus L. Kinyon, Alexander Holland, and Hamilton Spencer created a proposal for a southern route beginning in St. Louis and heading west to California. The Post Office Department received nine bids in all. The Postmaster-general, Brown, was from Tennessee and favored a southern route. Although none of the bidders had provided for the route, the Postmaster-general advocated a route, known as the
Oxbow Route,
"from St. Louis, Missouri, and from Memphis Tennessee, converging at Little Rock, Arkansas; thence, via Preston, TexasPreston, Texas, also known as Preston Bend was a prominent town located on the Red River in North Texas. It grew in the 1800s at the intersection of several military and trade roads and was an important crossing on the Shawnee cattle trail. Preston lost prominence after the MK&T railroad passed...
, or as nearly so as may be found advisable, to the best point of crossing the Rio Grande, above El PasoEl Paso is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States, and part of the American Southwest. According to the United States Census Bureau's 2006 population estimates, the city had a population of 606,913. It is the sixth-largest city in Texas and the 22nd-largest city in...
and not far from Fort FillmoreFort Fillmore was a fortification established by Col. Edwin Vose Sumner in September of 1851 near Mesilla in what is now New Mexico, primarily to protect settlers and traders travelling to California. Travellers in the Westward Migration were under constant threat from Indian attack, and a network...
; thence along the new road being opened and constructed under direction of the Secretary of the InteriorThe United States Secretary of the Interior is the head of the United States Department of the Interior.The US Department of the Interior should not be confused with the concept of Ministries of the Interior as used in other countries...
, to Fort Yuma, California; thence, through the best passes and along the best valleys for safe and expeditious staging, to San Francisco."
This route was an extra longer than the central and northern routes running through
Denver, ColoradoThe City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the state of Colorado, in the United States. Denver is a consolidated city-county located in the South Platte River Valley on the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...
and
Salt Lake City, UtahSalt Lake City is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. The name of the city is often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC. Salt Lake City has a population of 181,698 as of July 1, 2008, making it the 125th largest city in the United States...
, but was snow free. The bid and route was awarded to Butterfield and his associates, for semi-weekly mail at $600,000 per year. At that time it was the largest land-mail contract ever awarded in the US.
Route
The contract with the postal service, which went into effect on September 16, 1858, identified the route and divided it into nine divisions numbered west to east from San Francisco.
| Division |
Route |
Miles |
Hours |
| 1 |
San FranciscoSan Francisco is the fourth most populous city in California and the 12th most populous city in the United States, with a 2008 estimated population of 808,976. It is the eighth most densely populated city in the U.S. and is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the larger San...
to Los Angeles |
462 |
80 |
| 2 |
Los AngelesLos Angeles is the largest city in the state of California and the second largest in the United States. Often abbreviated as L.A. and nicknamed The City of Angels, Los Angeles has an estimated population of 3.8 million and spans over in Southern California...
to Fort Yuma |
282 |
72.20 |
| 3 |
Fort Yuma Fort Yuma was a historic fort in California, located across the Colorado River from Yuma, Arizona. Fort Yuma was on the Butterfield Overland Mail route from 1858 until 1861. The fort was abandoned May 16, 1883 and transferred to the Department of the Interior...
to Tucson |
280 |
71.45 |
| 4 |
TucsonTucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States, located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. As of July 1, 2006, a Census Bureau estimate puts the city's population at 541,811, with a metropolitan area population at...
to Franklin |
360 |
82 |
| 5 |
Franklin El Paso is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States, and part of the American Southwest. According to the United States Census Bureau's 2006 population estimates, the city had a population of 606,913. It is the sixth-largest city in Texas and the 22nd-largest city in...
to Fort Chadbourne |
458 |
126.30 |
| 6 |
Fort Chadbourne Fort Chadbourne was a frontier fort established by the United States Army in what is now Coke County, Texas.It was established October 28, 1852, to protect the western frontier and the Butterfield Overland Mail route. It was manned by the 8th U.S. Infantry...
to Colbert's Ferry |
282½ |
65.25 |
| 7 |
Colbert's Ferry Colbert's Ferry was an important Red River crossing between Texas and Indian Territory from about 1850 to 1899. Both the Texas Road and the Butterfield Overland Mail route crossed here. It was located about a half mile southeast of present–day Colbert, Oklahoma.Benjamin F...
to Fort Smith (Indian Territory) |
192 |
38 |
| 8 |
Fort SmithFort Smith is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of Arkansas and one of the two county seats of Sebastian County. With a population of 80,268 at the 2000 census, it is the principal city of the Fort Smith, Arkansas-Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Area, a region of 288,818 residents which...
to Tipton |
318½ |
48.55 |
| 9 |
Tipton Tipton is a city in Moniteau County, Missouri, United States. The population was 3,261 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Jefferson City, Missouri Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Tipton is located at ....
to St. LouisSt. Louis is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. With an estimated population of 354,361 in 2008, it is the principal municipality of Greater St. Louis, population 2,866,517, the largest urban area in Missouri and sixteenth largest in the United States...
(Pacific RailroadThe Pacific Railroad was a railroad based in the U.S. state of Missouri. It was a predecessor of both the Missouri Pacific Railroad and St. Louis-San Francisco Railway.The Pacific was chartered by Missouri in 1849 to extend "from St...
) |
160 |
11.40 |
| |
Totals |
2,795 |
596.35 |
Operation
The Butterfield Overland Mail Company held the U.S. Mail contract from September 16, 1857 on a six year contract. Service was to actually start on September 15, 1858. On that date stages departed from St. Louis and San Francisco for the first time. The stage from San Francisco arrived in St. Louis 23 days and 4 hours later with the mail and six passengers. The scheduled time between the two points was 25 days.
The western fare one way was $200 with most stages arriving 22 days later at their final destination.
With the
American Civil WarThe American Civil War , also known as the War Between the States and several other names, was a civil war in the United States of America. Eleven Southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America...
looming, the competing
Pony ExpressThe Pony Express was a fast mail service crossing the North American continent from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California, from April 1860 to October 1861...
was formed in 1860 to deliver mail faster and on a central/northern route away from the volatile southern route. The Pony Express was to succeed in delivering the mail in 10 days. But the Pony Express failed to win the mail contract.
Butterfield's assets as well as those of the Pony Express were to wind up with the Wells Fargo partners.
A correspondent for the
New York HeraldThe New York Herald was a large distribution newspaper based in New York City that existed between May 6, 1835 and 1924.-History:The first issue of the paper was published by James Gordon Bennett, Sr. . During the American Civil War, it was a staunch supporter of the Democratic Party. Under...
, Waterman Ormsby, remarked after his trek through the western US to San Francisco on a Butterfield Stagecoach thus: "Had I not just come out over the route, I would be perfectly willing to go back, but I now know what
HellIn many religious traditions, Hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife, often in the underworld. Religions with a linear divine history often depict Hell as endless...
is like. I've just had 24 days of it."
Employing over 800 at its peak, it used 250 Concord
StagecoachA stagecoach is a type of four-wheeled closed coach for passengers and goods, strongly sprung and drawn by four horses, usually four-in-hand. Widely used before the introduction of railway transport, it made regular trips between stages or stations, which were places of rest provided for stagecoach...
es and 1800 head of stock, horses and mules and 139 relay stations or frontier forts in its heyday. The last Oxbow Route run was made March 21, 1861 at the time of the outbreak of the Civil War.
Route discontinued
An
Act of CongressAn act of Congress is a statute enacted by government with a legislature named "Congress," such as the United States and the Philippines....
, approved March 2, 1861, discontinued this route and service ceased June 30, 1861. On the same date the central route from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Placerville, California, went into effect. This new route was called the
Central Overland California Route.
Under the
Confederate States of AmericaThe Confederate States of America was a separatist political entity existing between 1861 to 1865, established by eleven southern slave states of the United States of America, each of which had previously declared their secession from the United States...
, the Butterfield route operated with limited success from 1861 until early 1862 using former Butterfield employees. Wells Fargo continued its stagecoach runs to mining camps in more northern locations until the coming of the US
Transcontinental RailroadThe First Transcontinental Railroad is the popular name of the U.S. railroad line built between 1863 and 1869 by the Central Pacific Railroad of California and Union Pacific Railroad from Council Bluffs, Iowa/Omaha, Nebraska to Alameda, California...
in 1869.
Three battles of the
American Civil WarThe American Civil War , also known as the War Between the States and several other names, was a civil war in the United States of America. Eleven Southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America...
occurred on or near Butterfield mail posts, the Battle of Stanwix Station, the
Battle of Picacho PassThe Battle of Picacho Pass or Battle of Picacho Peak was an engagement of the American Civil War on April 15, 1862, near Picacho Peak, northwest of Tucson, Arizona...
and the
Battle of Apache PassThe Battle of Apache Pass was fought at Apache Pass in Arizona, United States, between Apache warriors and the California Column as it marched from California to capture Confederate Arizona and to reinforce New Mexico's Union army.-Background:...
. Confederates destroyed stations to keep them from northern hands. All said engagement happenened in the Arizona sector of the mail route.
Modern remnants
The only surviving station building is
Oak Grove Butterfield Stage StationOak Grove Butterfield Stage Station is located in Warner Springs, California and is the only surviving station on the Butterfield Overland Mail stagecoach line...
, near
Warner SpringsWarner Springs is a small unincorporated community in northern San Diego County, California, United States. It is associated with two National Historic Landmarks, the Oak Grove Butterfield Stage Station and the Warner's Ranch, both connected to the Butterfield Overland Mail stagecoach line...
in
San Diego County, CaliforniaSan Diego County is a county located near the Pacific Ocean in the far southwest of the U.S. state of California. It is the southwesternmost county in the contiguous 48 states...
. It and the location of
Warner's RanchWarner's Ranch was a pioneering cattle ranch established in 1831. It was a stop on the Butterfield Overland Mail stagecoach line during 1859-1861. It is now a hot springs resort.It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1961....
, another station away, were declared to be
National Historic LandmarkA National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance. All NHLs are listed in the National Register of Historic Places...
s in 1961. The Elkhorn Tavern in the
Pea Ridge National Military ParkPea Ridge National Military Park is a United States National Military Park located in extreme northwestern Arkansas near the Missouri border. The park protects the site of the American Civil War Battle of Pea Ridge which was fought March 7 and March 8, 1862...
was another destination along the route that was rebuilt after the Civil War. It is on one of the last sections of the trail that still exists- Old Wire road through Avoca, Rogers and Springdale, AR. Also in Arkansas is the town of
PottsvillePottsville is a town in Pope County, Arkansas, United States. As of the 2000 census the population was 1,271. It is part of the Russellville Micropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Pottsville is located at...
which was built around Pott's Inn. Pott's Inn was finished in 1859 and was a popular stop along the route. It still exists today and is a museum owned by the
Pope CountyPope County is a county located in the U.S. state of Arkansas. As of 2000, the population was 54,469. The county seat is Russellville. The county was formed on November 2, 1829, from a portion of Crawford County and named for John Pope, the third governor of the Arkansas Territory...
Historic Society.
When it was first established, the route proceeded due east from
Franklin, TexasEl Paso is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States, and part of the American Southwest. According to the United States Census Bureau's 2006 population estimates, the city had a population of 606,913. It is the sixth-largest city in Texas and the 22nd-largest city in...
, towards the
Hueco TanksHueco Tanks is an area of low mountains in Texas, USA. It is located in a high-altitude desert basin between the Franklin Mountains to the west and the Hueco Mountains to the east. Hueco is a Spanish word meaning hollows and refers to the many water-holding depressions in the boulders and rock...
; the remains of a stagecoach stop are still visible at the
Hueco Tanks State Historic SiteHueco Tanks State Historic Site is a Texas historic site in the Hueco Tanks area, approximately northeast of El Paso, Texas. The park is popular for recreation such as birding and bouldering, and is culturally and spiritually significant to many Native Americans...
.
The summit of
Guadalupe PeakGuadalupe Peak is the highest point in Texas, with an elevation of . It is located in Guadalupe Mountains National Park, part of the Guadalupe Mountains range in southeastern New Mexico and West Texas. The mountain is about east of El Paso and about southwest of Carlsbad, New Mexico...
in
Guadalupe Mountains National ParkGuadalupe Mountains National Park is located in the Guadalupe Mountains of West Texas and contains Guadalupe Peak, the highest point in Texas at in elevation. It also contains El Capitan, long used as a landmark by people traveling along the old route later followed by the Butterfield Overland...
features a stainless steel pyramid erected in 1958 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Butterfield Overland Mail, which passed south of the mountain.
See also
- Butterfield Overland Despatch, an unrelated company
- Butterfield Overland Mail in Indian Territory
The Butterfield Overland Mail in Indian Territory was part of the Butterfield Overland Mail service created by Congress March 3, 1857. In Indian Territory, the route crossed from Arkansas into the Choctaw Nation at Skullyville and left the Chickasaw Nation at Colbert's Ferry into Texas. There were...
External links