page_title: Butterfield Overland Mail
section_title: Operations
hierarchical_section_title: Butterfield Overland Mail / Operations
caption_attribution_description: English: US Postage stamp, overland mail issue of 1958, 4c, red
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: Butterfield's Overland Mail Company held the U.S. Mail contract from September 16, 1858, on a six-year contract. The first stage going east left San Francisco at 10 minutes past midnight on September 14, 1858. The mail from San Francisco reached St. Louis in 24 days, 18 hours, and 26 minutes. The first stage going west left Tipton, Missouri, at 8 a. m. on September 16, 1858. The mail was carried by railroad for the first 160 miles (260 km) from St. Louis to Tipton. 
  Butterfield's Overland Mail Company made two trips a week from September 1858 to March 1861. At the start of service, the mail would leave St. Louis, Missouri, and San Francisco, California, every Monday and Thursday. A December 1, 1858, advertisement stated that the days for departure from San Francisco on Monday and Friday and that the through fare to Terminus of Pacific Railroad as $100.An advertisement appeared in the same newspaper on January 11, 1859, that the through fare to Terminus of Pacific Railroad had increased to $200. Butterfield's Overland Mail Company had 139 stage stations at the start of service but more stations were built after service started and increased to about 170. As noted about 100 stages were employed.
caption: Overland mail commemorative stamp issued by the U.S. Post Office, 100th Anniversary, October 10, 1958
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