Butterfield

Agreement Between Russell and Dinsmore

The Overland Mail Company had the main contract for transporting mail to California, but no line over which to travel. The Russell, Majors & Waddell Company had two minor contracts and the only…

No Annulment for Butterfield

The breaking up of that company's line and the stopping of mail to California over it presented the government with as pretty a dilemma as one could hope to find. The Overland…

Destruction of Butterfield’s Line

 . . . the Overland Mail line had been "cut up by the roots" by the Confederates in Texas and all its stages stopped. . . . The mail had been halted…

Butterfield’s Regular Service

Before service on this line began, a storm of protest over its length was raised in California and the East. In spite of complaints, however, Butterfield laid out his route, built stations,…

Butterfield Goes Bankrupt

By 1860, overland stagecoaches carried more mail across America's sea of grass than steamships on the rivers and oceans, but not even the postal subsidy and passenger revenue combined could sustain Butterfield's stupendously…

Hale’s Bill

"Early in March, 1861, congress passed a law (essentially Hale's bill) providing for a daily mail by the Central route to California and a semiweekly Pony Express, at a total annual compensation…

Raids on Butterfield Stations in Texas

"Texas's secession vote in February 1861 prompted Congress a few weeks later to move the overland mail service from the southern route to a central route through the country's midsection,…

Performance of the Daily Overland Mail

"During the summer and autumn of 1861 the service was satisfactorily performed, despite the difficulty occasioned by accumulations of mail at the eastern end. The paper mail was usually carried…

Million Dollar Mail Contract

"During the Congressional short session of 1860-61, advocates of the Central route renewed their efforts for an adequately subsidized mail service on their favorite line. They at last succeeded and…

The Pony Express Was Not an End in Itself

"The Pony Express was not an end in itself, but a means to an end. There had been previous suggestions for the establishment of a fast overland express, and an…

Butterfield on the Central Route

"The Butterfield Overland Mail contracted to manage the express operations east of Salt Lake in April 1861. The company launched the first daily overland stage and mail service from St. Joseph,…

Butterfield Moves to the Central Route

On March 2nd [after Confederate troops had destroyed Butterfield's line in Missouri and Texas] , to solve the contracting predicament with the C.O.C. & P.P. Express Co. and Overland Mail Company,…

Butterfield’s Pony Express

"So successful did the Pony Express appear during the first few weeks of operation, that it was rumored as early as April 14, 1860, that the Butterfield Overland Mail Company or Overland…

Butterfield Wins the Bid

"The victory of advocates of an overland mail to the Pacific Coast, as represented by the passage of the Post Office Appropriation Bill and its amendments in 1857, appeared to…