Gwin’s Manoevers
Gwin, in hopes of extricating himself, struck a bargain with the Administration. It was agreed that he was to obstruct the Colfax bill and to allow the session to expire without action; afterwards he…
California Petition for a Wagon Road
The agitation worked itself in the formidable wagon road movement which, in 1856, culminated in a monster petition signed by 75,000 Californians who wanted a wagon road constructed over, and an overland mail placed…
Early Overland Mail Proposals
The idea of carrying mails overland by stage was of early origin. In 1849, a petition embodying a plan for a continental mail was recommended to the Senate by the Committee on the…
Postmaster Brown’s Comments on the Central Route
Having furnished the above detail of facts, the department does not consider it improper to submit a few observations in relation to the reasons which induced a preference for the route selected.…
1861 Mail Appropriation
Despite all the sound and fury, however, the Post Route Bill enjoyed surprisingly good progress and early in February reached the upper house. In it was a provision for daily mail between California…
1860 Mail Appropriation
In the next try during the spring of 1860 Russell nearly squeaked through with his gamble on the Pony Express. While applause for the equine mail was still ringing in the nation's press,…
Gwin’s Politics
By now Russell's gamble had failed, the Hale bill having run aground in the House. Senator Gwin had fought the proposal—a Republican measure—at every tum. He had what was termed the "most…
Pony Goes Semi-Weekly
They arrived safely on June 22nd and the delayed mail was sent on to San Francisco, where it was received June 25th—the first Pony mail in three weeks. Now, a strange thing…
Russell Purchases Hockaday
Through this maelstrom of congressional bickering and administrative ill-will, seemingly only W. H. Russell, the great opportunist, had a clear eye to the future. A month after Postmaster General Holt crippled Hockaday by…
Butterfield Contract
Nine proposals for the contract were received by Postmaster General Aaron V. Brown. Being a southerner from Tennessee, he placed the hand of favor on the bid submitted by John Butterfield for a…
Butterfield Contract Satisfactory for Russell
Russell's feeling of satisfaction with the contract was fully justified. In the first place, he and his partners, Majors and Waddell, would receive $220,000.00 a year more for operating over approximately half…
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…
Annulment of Chorpenning’s Contract
On May 11, 1860, the postmaster general annulled George Chorpenning's contract for carrying the mail from Salt Lake City to the west coast, and awarded it to the Central Overland California Pike's Peak…
Steamship Policy
In 1847, Congress authorized the secretary of the Navy to contract for additional steamship mail service. One route ran from New York to Charleston, Savannah, New Orleans, and Havana; another from Havana to…