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.
Kenyon and Butterfield Jr.: architects of the Butterfield Trail John Butterfield Sr. turned to two of his most trusted and experienced employees to put in place the Butterfield Trail. In 1858, with expedition leader Marquis L. Kenyon, John Butterfield Jr. helped to select the route and sites for the stage stations. Kenyon was also a stockholder/director of the Overland Mail Company and the only stockholder, other than John Butterfield, to have significant staging experience. Marquis moved from Mannsville, Jefferson County, to Rome, New York, in 1838. Rome was twelve miles from John Butterfield's home in Utica. He immediately became involved with staging. His obituary gives a good summation of his staging activities in Upstate New York and what led him to be involved with the Overland Mail Company: "His prior occupation was a humble one—that of driver of a stage-coach between Utica and Oswego. It was but two or three years before he had saved enough money from his wages to purchase an interest in the stage-coach line of which he was an employee; and once having placed his foot on the first steps of the ladder, he soon rose, by his business tact and assiduity, to be the principal proprietor of the stage-coach lines converging to this point. At the time that railroads supplanted stages on the leading routes, Mr. Kinyon [Kenyon] was one of the most extensive owners of stage-coach property in Central New York. After the introduction of railroads, he continued to carry on the business of mail contractor and stage proprietor on the small lateral lines; but his business energies were too expansive to be thus curtailed, and he soon found ampler vent for them than the _______ of his former vast carrying business afforded. Hence, when the overland mail route to California was projected, Mr. Kinyon [Kenyon] found a field of business enterprise more commensurate with his capacities. He it was who went over the whole route originally, and surveyed it from the eastern terminus to its western in California." Returning, he procured the necessary equipment for the route, and went over it again, organizing the route as he proceeded, and remained for nearly a year in California, in charge of the western terminus of the road." After winning the contract on September 16, 1857, Butterfield had one year to organize the trail and immediately sent his hand-picked team, headed by Marquis L. Kenyon, to San Francisco to begin the task. The steamer
Star of New York left New York on November 20, 1857, with passengers "M.L. Kinyon [Kenyon], J. Butterfield [Jr.], F. De Ruyter and S.K. Nellis, who go out to open the Pacific Mail Route across the plains and arrange the western terminus of said route." The party left San Francisco on January 16, 1858, to begin laying out the trail and selecting the sites for stage stations. They traveled by mule covering about per day. Another party left St. Louis about the same time. Both were to meet at El Paso, Texas, and then return to St. Louis. The party from St. Louis was G.W. Wood, Jesse Talcott, and Charles P. Cole. A Fort Smith, Arkansas, newspaper reported: "The parties met at El Paso and after recruiting [used in the sense of recovering] a few days, the above gentlemen left for this city—making the trip to this place in twenty-two days from El Paso, and thirty-one days from San Francisco to El Paso, or fifty-six days, through with wagons. …The party from California, in crossing Arizona, took a middle route between
Beale's and the Southern route – (but little traveled heretofore,) pronounced by them, as an excellent road." Another report describes the arrival of the two parties at Fort Smith, Arkansas, and tells us that the choice for the trail did not satisfy Kenyon and his party and they returned from El Paso, Texas, by a different route, which became the trail. "A portion of the exploring party sent out by the Overland Mail Company, for the purpose of examining the routes for the carriage of the mails from the Valley of the Mississippi to the Pacific coast, which left this city on the 3rd of January last, reached Fort Smith, Arkansas, on their return home, on the 17th inst., accompanied by four of the party which left San Francisco on the 16th of January, on purpose to examine that portion of the route from the Pacific to the Rio Grande. They left El Paso on the 22d of March, thus accomplishing the distance from the Rio Grande to Fort Smith—nine hundred and thirty miles—in the short space of twenty-five days, which we believe is the quickest time on record in crossing the Plains. The party was composed of only eight men, as follows: Major George W. Wood, Jesse Tolcott, Charles P. Cole and J.A. Lilly, of the St. Louis party, and Lieut. Frank de Ryther, James Swartz and John Butterfield Jr. of the San Francisco party. They brought with them one wagon and thirteen animals, which they left at Fort Smith for the party proceeding East. The route traveled on the return trip was different from the one passed over in going out, ... " John Jr.'s obituary summarized his accomplishment: "John Butterfield [Jr.], the man who helped link the East to the West in establishing his famous Overland Mail Route more than half a century ago, died recently at his house in Utica, aged 82 years. His father, John Butterfield, was a superintendent of the Overland Mail Route from San Francisco to St. Louis and thence to eastern cities. The younger Butterfield first traversed the famous route, marked the stations, superintended the work of organization and drove the first stage over the route.
John Butterfield makes the Southern Overland Trail his own The history of the Butterfield Trail and the
Emigrant Trail are intertwined. It was the purpose of awarding the contract to the Overland Mail Company, on September 16, 1857, not only for a land route to deliver mail from the East to the West coast, but to aid emigrant travel to settle the West. Butterfield accomplished this purpose by providing an improved trail and water sources at regularly spaced stage stations. When researchers hike the Southern Overland Corridor, the most visible ruts are those of the route that the Overland Mail Company established, which others followed. Even though its services ceased on the Southern Overland Corridor in March 1861 because of the impending Civil War, it was so efficient that it remained little changed until its demise with the completion of the railroad in 1880. For this reason, to this day, the Southern Overland Trail is most commonly called "The Butterfield Trail." The building of the trail was in two sections: the San Francisco to Los Angeles section and the rest of the distance to Tipton, Missouri. The San Francisco to Los Angeles section was previously one of the most developed. Some changes were made from Los Angeles to San Francisco. Settlements and wagon roads used by local stage lines were strung out between San Francisco and Los Angeles. Some existing structures, such as ranch houses and hotels were contracted as stage stations. One of the most famous is
Vallecito, which is preserved as a historic site. Kenyon's hardest task building the trail was east of Los Angeles, where his trail was mostly in the open desert.
Sections shortened or improved Waterman L. Ormsby, the correspondent for the
New York Herald, a passenger on the first stagecoach going west in September 1858, wrote in his reports of Marquis L. Kenyon's part in building the trail and the advantage for emigrants. He writes about the many improvements on the Texas side of the Red River starting about eight miles below Preston. A lengthy new section of road in Texas is described: "Another disadvantage under which we labored, this trip, was that our road, for the most of the way, was nearly new, though Mr. Bates claims that from Sherman to [Fort] Belknap at least forty miles are saved by it. It leads through the counties of Grayson, Cooke, Jacks [Jack], Montague, Wise, and Young, all of which contribute towards its expenses, and certainly it must be a favorite with some, for,
though only opened one month before I passed over it, it was already pretty well marked with wagon tracks. …It must of course improve with every day of its use." Another Texas section: "The new road from Grape Creek to the head of Concho River, Texas, on Mr. Glover's division, is also in good order for travel and saves another thirty miles [the total length for this new section is 122 miles]. The New Pass between Los Angeles, and Fort Tejon, California, has been much improved under the superintendence of M.L. Kinyon [Kenyon], as have also been other portions of the route. The route of the company will, of course, be a favorite emigrant route, and will, therefore, be in better order than before, in fact, each month will add new facilities to the overland mail." Goddard Bailey's report shows that there were 139 stations at the beginning of Butterfield's service, but by the time the line ceased operations the line had been improved by the addition of thirty-six more for a total of 175. The new stations were assigned 320 acres each and many took advantage by growing crops which aided the line. Although there were springs and rain-fed waterholes along the trail, many did not have a sufficient water capacity to supply the line and emigrants. These were dug out to hold a larger capacity. Cisterns were constructed at some of the stations and water wagons were used to transport water from distant sources to fill the cisterns. At the Hueco Tanks in Texas, correspondent Ormsby tells of the tanks being enlarged by Butterfield to hold a year's supply of water. In June 1860 Butterfield passenger Wallace reported to the
Daily Alta California the following: "Between Vallecito and Algodones there are eight of these stations, varying from nine to sixteen miles apart. Wells have been sunk at each station, and abundance of good water is obtained, except at the Monument and Garden stations. These waters are brackish and bitter—a flavor not delicate to the taste. Drinking-water is carried from the other stations. These stations are of incalculable worth to emigrants, who are no longer forced to depend upon the precious supply of water which the wells, afforded, and which were liable to be covered up by the sand-waves that move over the desert." Other improvements to the trail by Butterfield were the building of bridges: "Fourteen miles from Boggy Depot [Indian Territory now Oklahoma] we came to Blue River station, where a heavy bridge is building for the company." There were two bridges in Arizona. One was across the San Simon River near San Simon Stage Station, and the other across the San Pedro River just north of the San Pedro River Stage Station. The trail that John Butterfield had established was so efficient that it was little changed until its demise in 1880 with the completion of the railroad, and the impact the Butterfield Trail had for settling the West cannot be understated, as written by President James Buchanan congratulating John Butterfield for his achievement: "Washington, Oct. 9, 1858
John Butterfield, Esq.: Sir – Your dispatch has been received. I cordially congratulate you upon the result. It is a glorious triumph for civilization and the Union. Settlements will soon follow the course of the road, and the East and West will be bound together by a chain of living Americans, which can never be broken." As stated by President Buchanan in the congratulation telegram to John Butterfield, increased emigration would be a result of the improved trail. Just after Butterfield's service started in September 1858, there were many newspaper accounts of a large increase in the number of emigrants on the trail. The San Antonio and San Diego Mail Line was operating on 900 miles of the improved trail and benefited by the regularly spaced water holes at Butterfield's stations. In October 1859, Superintendent Isaiah C. Woods complimented Butterfield for these improvements and the benefit to the San Antonio and San Diego Mail Line: "The San Diego Overland Route – Interesting News – From I.C. Woods, who has just crossed the continent on the San Diego and San Antonio Line, says the
San Diego Herald, we gather some items which may be of interest: Woods pays a high compliment to the staging of the Butterfield Overland Company, along the Gila and over the Desert, particularly to Superintendent Buckley and Warren Hall, the Road Agent of this division [for Butterfield's Overland Mail Company. They have, he says, really worked wonders in organizing their road in a manner which would be a model in any country. The immigrants are coming slowly along, feeling in no hurry to enter California much before the rains have brought on the new grass.
The stations of the Overland Mail companies and the wells dug by these enterprising men, are proving of incalculable benefit to those crossing with their own teams. The immigration on the Southern route, this year, will figure up from ten thousand to fifteen thousand souls, with a very large amount of cattle and sheep. The old complaints of the immigrants are at present unheard of, owing to the better knowledge of the country now so readily obtained.”
San Francisco to Memphis As noted above, the route from San Francisco to Fort Smith was the same for both routes. Travel time from Fort Smith to Memphis was about the same as to St. Louis. Management of the route from Fort Smith to Memphis was included in
Division 8. However, because of the untamed nature of the
Mississippi River and its Arkansas tributaries in those years, the southern route necessarily utilized various alternative routes and methods of travel. At that time, there was no Mississippi River bridge at Memphis, and the
Memphis and Little Rock Railroad ran from Hopefield near present-day
West Memphis, Arkansas, only to a point 12 miles east of
Madison, Arkansas, on the
St. Francis River. From there the route headed overland by stagecoach. When the
Arkansas River was high enough, the mail could instead travel from Memphis by
steamboat down the Mississippi to the mouth of the Arkansas River, navigate up that river to Little Rock, and on from there by stagecoach. When the Arkansas was too low for steamboat traffic, the Butterfield could take the
White River to
Clarendon, Arkansas, or
Des Arc, Arkansas, before switching to the stagecoaches. Sometimes the entire route across eastern Arkansas would be by stage. ==Butterfield's stagecoaches, celerity wagons, and water wagons==