page_title: Butterfield Overland Mail
section_title: Route
hierarchical_section_title: Butterfield Overland Mail / Route
caption_attribution_description: English: Foldout map of the Southwestern United States with territories and "Mail Route" of the Overland Mail Company contracted for $600,000 per year in 1857. Service began when the "first eastbound stagecoach departed San Francisco on September 15, 1858, and the westbound stagecoach left St. Louis a day later." The "DAILY LINE, from St.Louis to Springfield, Mo." was through en:Tipton, Missouri until the tbd railway was extended in 1859 along the preceding stage route to "The George Shackelford Relay and Meal Station" in en:Syracuse, Missouri. The "southern route" through the 1854 Gadsden Purchase region was abandoned in 1861 for the central route through the Kansas and Utah Territories (former Pony Express Route, not shown). ERRATA The serpentine line indicating an overland route between Fort Smith and Little Rock was via an Arkansas River "SEMI-WEEKLY LINE of STEAMERS carrying mail, freight, and passengers". Lake Tahoe (not labeled) is not depicted on the California/Utah territories' lines (later the California/Nevada state lines) "Wasatch Mountains" is depicted as a much larger part of the Great Basin Divide, extending from the Utah Territory, into the New Mexico T, and ending in California's Mojave Desert "Nicolette L" with the inflow "Nicolett Riv" having the same shape as the Spanish Fork River (into Utah Lake) is shown near 114 degW rather than 111 deg W "Sierra Madre NAMES Features without labels: Sevier Lake/Sevier River, Outdated names (current name displays in popup): Grand Riv., Los Angelos, Rio Colorado/San Joaquin/, Sacramento City, Walker's L., Firebaugh's Ferry
context_page_description: Butterfield Overland Mail was a stagecoach service in the United States operating from 1858 to 1861. It carried passengers and U.S. Mail from two eastern termini, Memphis, Tennessee, and St. Louis, Missouri, to San Francisco, California. The routes from each eastern terminus met at Fort Smith, Arkansas, and then continued through Indian Territory, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Mexico, and California ending in San Francisco. On March 3, 1857, Congress authorized the U.S. postmaster general, at that time Aaron V. Brown, to contract for delivery of the U.S. mail from St. Louis to San Francisco. Prior to this, U.S. Mail bound for the Far West had been delivered by the San Antonio and San Diego Mail Line since June 1857.
context_section_description: The contract with the U.S. Post Office, which went into effect on September 16, 1858, identified the route and divided it into eastern and western divisions. Franklin, Texas, later to be named El Paso, was the dividing point and these two were subdivided into minor divisions, five in the East and four in the West. These minor divisions were numbered west to east from San Francisco, each under the direction of a superintendent.
caption: The stage routes from a Butterfield Overland Mail Company map