The iconic Butterfield Overland Mail has entered the Wild West lore and is a core part of the romanticized Wild West. It was the longest stagecoach service in the world. It existed only briefly from 1858 to 1861 and ran from Memphis, Tennesse - or St. Louis, Missouri - to San Francisco.
Traveling by stagecoach wasn't romantic or fun. It was cramped, jolting, and very much uncomfortable. One would be cramped in three abreast, have luggage on one's lap, and the mail around one's feet. They wouldn't stop either. One could have 40 minutes to walk around while they changed the horses and one would sleep in the stagecoach held in place by the other passengers and the luggage.
The Need To Connect The Growing Country
Before Butterfield’s Overland Mail Company in the 1840s and 1850s, mail was carried across the recently expanded United States by several private companies, some under federal contract, using various routes, including ocean steamers around South America.
But this was a problem and there was a need for a better and quicker mode of communication. On April 20, 1857, the United States government looked for an “Overland Mail Service to California.”
- Quickest Old Route: 52 Days
- Butterfield’s Overland Mail Company: 25 Days
The winner of the lucrative $600,000-a-year federal contract was the New York businessman John Butterfield. The contract was to transport mail twice a week from St. Louis, Missouri, and San Francisco in "just" 25 days.
- Founder: John Butterfield
That may sound like a long time to hear news from the East, but the fastest line before that was the San Antonio and San Diego Mail Line. And they took much longer - 52 days.
It's hard to understand now, but the thought of bringing the continent together with a stage line was unheard of and created a lot of excitement together with tremendous pride.
Butterfield’s Overland Mail Stage Line
The undertaking was enormous and cost more than a million dollars to just get the stage line organized. They needed to build or repair roads and bridges and much more. Other infrastructure and preparations included employing staff, purchasing stagecoaches and wagons, buying horses, mules, fodder, and creating 150 stations.
- Stations: Around 150 Stations On The Route
- Employees: 800 Employees
- Cost: $1 Million Set Up Cost
- Length: 2,800 Miles
- Route: San Francisco to Memphis or St. Louis
The route to the two eastern termini diverged at Fort Smith, Arkansas. In the West, it ran through Indian Territory (today's Oklahoma), Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Mexico, and California before ending in San Franciso.
What Butterfield Overland Mail Was Like (Awful)
After making the first westbound trip on the Butterfield Stage, Waterman Ormsby a special correspondent for the New York Herald stated:
"Had I not just come out over the route, I would be perfectly willing to go back, but I now know what Hell is like. I’ve just had 24 days of it.”
There were no overnight stops and the stage traveled at what was then breakneck speeds - for 24 hours a day. There were only hurried intervals at stations to change the horse.
Mail was the first priority of the line, but it would also accept adventurous passengers who could afford the fare. The fare for the whole passage cost a whopping $200.
- Fare: $200.00 (Whole Route)
- Baggage Allowance: 25 lbs Of Baggage
- Other Provisions: Two Blankets And a Canteen
- Overnight Hotel Stops: None - You're Dreaming
And then there was what they had to eat - few people could survive the days of the Wild West now!
Nothing Stops The US Mail!
Issues that plagued the line included conflicts with native Indian peoples and the lack of water. But despite that, the line was able to deliver its goods in the 25 days required almost without exception.
According to the Californian Department of Parks and Recreation, Butterfield once exhorted his employees:
“Remember boys, nothing on God’s earth must stop the United States Mail!”
End of The Butterfield Line
The last Butterfield stage on the Oxbow route ran on March 21, 1861, and service ceased altogether on June 30, 1861, with the break out of the American Civil War (the line ran through Confederate territory). After that the stock and the coaches were moved north for a new line - it took about three months just to transfer them and to build new stations. That new line was a six-times-a-week mail line.
As technology improved, the stage line became out of date.
On October 24, 1861, the first transcontinental telegraph system was completed by the Western Union - heralding the death of the vaunted Pony Express.
The first transcontinental railroad (known originally as the "Pacific Railroad" and later as the "Overland Route") was built between 1863 and 1869. It was a 1,911-mile continuous railroad and connected the eastern American rail network at Council Bluffs in Iowa with the Pacific Coast.