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 (Oklahoma), 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.
Apache Pass, also known by its earlier Spanish name Puerto del Dado, is a historic mountain pass in the U.S. state of Arizona between the Dos Cabezas Mountains and Chiricahua Mountains at an elevation of 5,110 feet (1,560 m). It is approximately 20 miles (32 km) east-southeast of Willcox, Arizona, in Cochise County.
Oak Grove Butterfield Stage Station is located in the western foothills of the Laguna Mountains, in northern San Diego County, California. It is located on State Route 79, 13 miles (21 km) northwest of Warner Springs and Warner's Ranch. The station was built on the site of Camp Wright, an 1860s Civil War outpost.
Sackett's Wells is a former settlement in Imperial County, California. It was located 3 miles (4.8 km) west northwest of Plaster City, in or near Coyote Wash.
The Butterfield Overland Mail in California was created by the United States Congress on March 3, 1857, and operated until June 30, 1861. Subsequently, other stage lines operated along the Butterfield Overland Mail in route in Alta California until the Southern Pacific Railroad arrived in Yuma, Arizona in 1877.
Southern Emigrant Trail, also known as the Gila Trail, the Kearny Trail, Southern Trail and the Butterfield Stage Trail, was a major land route for immigration into California from the eastern United States that followed the Santa Fe Trail to New Mexico during the California Gold Rush. Unlike the more northern routes, pioneer wagons could travel year round, mountain passes not being blocked by snows; however, it had the disadvantage of summer heat and lack of water in the desert regions through which it passed in New Mexico Territory and the Colorado Desert of California. Subsequently, it was a route of travel and commerce between the eastern United States and California. Many herds of cattle and sheep were driven along this route and it was followed by the San Antonio-San Diego Mail Line in 1857–1858 and then the Butterfield Overland Mail from 1858 to 1861.
The Butterfield Overland Mail was a transport and mail delivery system that employed stagecoaches that travelled on a specific route between St. Louis, Missouri and San Francisco, California and which passed through the New Mexico Territory. It was created by the United States Congress on March 3, 1857, and operated until March 30, 1861. The route that was operated extended from where the ferry across the Colorado River to Fort Yuma Station, California was located, through New Mexico Territory via Tucson to the Rio Grande and Mesilla, New Mexico then south to Franklin, Texas, midpoint on the route. The New Mexico Territory mail route was divided into two divisions each under a superintendent. Tucson was the headquarters of the 3rd Division of the Butterfield Overland Mail Company. Franklin Station in the town of Franklin,, was the headquarters of the 4th Division.
Dome is a ghost town located in Yuma County, in southwestern Arizona, United States. It is located in the Dome Valley south of the Gila River. Originally Swiveler's Station, 20 miles (32 km) east of Fort Yuma on the Butterfield Overland Mail route, a post office was established here in 1858. It was first under the name of Gila City, the nearby boomtown one and a half miles (2.4 km) west of Swiveler's, but the post office closed July 14, 1863, after most of the town was swept away in the Great Flood of 1862, and then abandoned for the La Paz gold rush along the Colorado River. After the railroad passed by the site and an attempt at large scale mining of the placers began, a new post office was established as Dome in 1892 but soon closed when the attempt failed. Subsequently it opened and closed several times before finally closing in 1940.
Tejon Creek, originally in Spanish Arroyo de Tejon, is a stream in Kern County, California. Its headwaters are located on the western slopes of the Tehachapi Mountains, and it flows northwest into the southern San Joaquin Valley.
San Felipe Valley is an inland valley of the Peninsular Ranges, located in eastern San Diego County, California. Most of the valley is protected within the San Felipe Valley Wildlife Area.
Cooke's Wells Station a stage station of the Butterfeild Overland Mail, located south of the Mexican border, in the old Alamos River bed, about 1 km west northwest of Mérida, Baja California. Its site was at Cooke's Wells, named for Philip St. George Cooke whose expedition found them in 1847. It was at first the only water source 22 miles (35 km) east of Alamo Mucho Station and 18 miles (29 km) west of the Pilot Knob Station on the Southern Emigrant Trail.
Pilot Knob Station, a former stage station of the Butterfeild Overland Mail, located near Andrade, California. It was placed 10 miles west of the Fort Yuma stage station on the road along the Colorado River, in California, and 18 miles east of the Cooke's Wells Station in Baja California. It was subsequently used by the Union Army as station for its troops and supply wagons during the American Civil War and was a stage station again after the Civil War until the Southern Pacific Railroad, arrived in Yuma, Arizona ending the need for the stage line from California.
The Butterfield Overland Mail route in Baja California was created as a result of an act by the United States Congress on March 3, 1857, and operated until June 30, 1861 as part of the Second Division of the route. Subsequently other stage lines operated along the route until the Southern Pacific Railroad arrived in Yuma, Arizona.
Carrizo Creek Station, a former stage station of the San Antonio-San Diego Mail Line and Butterfield Overland Mail, located in Imperial County, California just east of the San Diego County line. It lies within the boundaries of the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park just west of the Carrizo Impact Area. Its site is located along the bank of Carrizo Creek.
Mission Camp is a historic locale, site of a later Butterfield Overland Mail stagecoach station, located about four and a half miles (7.2 km) west of Wellton on the south bank of the Gila River, in Yuma County, Arizona. It was located 11.49 miles (18.49 km) miles east of Gila City, Arizona, 4.51 miles (7.26 km) west of the original Butterfield stage station at Filibusters Camp, and 15.14 miles (24.37 km) west of Antelope Peak Station, a later station that with Mission Camp Station replaced Filibusters Camp Station.
Antelope Hill, formerly Antelope Peak, is a summit, at an elevation of 804 feet, near the Gila River in Yuma County, Arizona.
Ewell Station is a later station of the Butterfield Overland Mail located 24.4 miles (39.3 km) east of Dragoon Springs, Arizona and 12.22 miles (19.67 km) west of Apache Pass Station. This station shortened the route between Dragoon Springs and Apache Pass Stations and provided a water stop not previously available. The station was probably started in late 1858 as it is not listed in Oct., 1858 but appears in an account from 1862, after Butterfield had ceased operation. Water at the station was hauled from a spring, located 4 miles (6.4 km) north of the station in the Dos Cabezas Mountains and stored in a cistern.
Antelope Peak Station, a later Butterfield Overland Mail station located 15.14 miles east of Mission Camp, at the foot of Antelope Peak. It replaced Filibusters Camp Station, 6 miles to the west. The Overland Mail Company replaced Filibusters Camp, because Antelope Peak Station had a better water supply. Its location is thought to be 32°42′47″N114°00′54″W. The station was built by John Kilbride in 1857 but did not appear on the stagecoach itinerary until 1859.
Texas Hill Station is a site of a later Butterfield Overland Mail stagecoach station. It was one of several built in 1859 to increase the number of water stops and team changes along the drier and hotter sections of the route and was located about 2 miles east of Texas Hill.
Desert Station is a historic locale, the site of a later station of the Butterfield Overland Mail, in what is now Maricopa County, Arizona.
