Arkansas true Democrat., 1858-07-28
From the Gallatin Tenn. Examiner Letter on the Overland Mail Route

Col. T. BoYERs: Sir-I am in receipt q your note of the 9th, asking for informadOl d the nature of the contract entered into by !ha | overland mail company with the Posmstg General, the services to be rendered, the pS they receive, and as much of the deia.. si their plans of operation as 1 may see propzB communicate. The company Is composed the principal busineSss men of the Amerm Express Co, all of them men of great enerE and fine business talent and habits They CO., tIacted to carry the mails semi weekly hM Memphis and St. Louis to San Francisco, 2 through in twenty five days-mals to be cara ! in tuur horse coaches, suitable for the conpy. ance of passengers aud the security of a malls. Their contract is for six wears, to e mence the 16th of September next and N are to receive six hundred thousand dollars nually for their services, to be paid quarterly The company have obtained the cOnsena the Postmaster General to start their mails lHa St. Louis and Memphis, on the l7th JulyR run as tar as Fort Belknap, Texas and iron San Francisco to Fort Yuma, on the PacG side-mais to be carried twice a month, unl the gap can be filled, so IS to commence thOus service by the 1st of October. It will require 1,20O horses to stock the rOat they have already about 900 head of hOrs and mules, and all their coaches and harness and thelr agents are now actively engaged T | getting them on the route. Through the settlements, say from St. Lous | and Memphis, to Fort Belknap, Texas, OO tn end ot this route, and from San FranclS@ Fort Yuma, 1000 miles, there are but few sa dement's, and 1t will cost very heavily to tra1s port provender in wagons; they will depend | great deal on grazing, and as mules will do 0e ter on short feed than horses, they will be ussa though there Is but little doubt, that n wv years there will be chain of settlements alol, | the entire route; hundreds of families hayes% k | tied on the route through Texas, since the eI \ | plorinS parties passed through in January sA | February. | sThrough the unsettled country, the comEar will have to erect stations every F or l6 mAA X for their own convenience; at each of these 'r < tlons there will be smiths shop, wood ai { | harness shops, and a post office, sand at somta
 them there will be stores to trade with the U \ dians, and to supply persons in the emplo'
 the company, and emigrants, thus forming '" nucleus of a settlement. | As to your suggestion of the danger ol 'I stations being broken up, and the mails rOO'" | | by Indians, l would say that do not apr nend much difficulty as the government En | place regiment of cavalry on the route, WY will be continually moving from one saIloo another and will thus prevent any mauraaa' | bands getting near the line, before they Su | covered. As regards the practicablllty ~ 'Is route, have little or no doubt, as 1t has s''
 fully explored by competent men sent oG'
 the company. and they report very favoraOE
 1t; indeed stages have been run from San a
 tonia, Texas. to San Diego, regularly since S
 July, and they have never been nterrupisa1, Their route Is the same as the overland ins1
 company, from Fl Paso to Fort Yuma, and VIZ
 be discontinued after the 1st of October.
 The company will build telegraph l'ne lIs~ S.
 St: Louis aud Memphis, via Ft. Smith to o-
 Francisco, which will prove great convensus | both to them and the country. have Vs's
 and am still of the opinion that the governnl'" I ought to build 1t.
 | According to the original contract, the oC~
 pany agreed to bring these two branches toge'uss,
 at Little Rock, but on examination ol
 Toad from St. Louis to that point, 1t was 'ou
 to be bad, the company procured the conseur' X
 the Postmaster General to select Ft. Smi'D
 the point of connection, that being consldef'.,
 better point, and they also procured hls cols
 to carry their mails and passengers from Iiu Rock to Fort Smith in boats. The ds''ap. from St. Louis to San Francisco, is 2, ,30O mDs have, believe, given you all the lniorp' tion that is necessary relative to this siup.s dous undertaking, and will only add tn@ in the hands of men who know no such W., as fail, and that there Is not the shadow oa ", doubt but they will carry it out succesSuIssr x and that they will have more applications " passage they can accommodate
 Yours, truly, JAMES GLovkA