The Butterfield Stage, also known as Butterfield Overland Stage and Butterfield Overland Mail, was a stagecoach route in the United States, operating from 1857 to 1861. It was a conduit for the US mail between St. Louis, Missouri and San Francisco, California. Although the Pony Express is often credited with being the first fast mail line across the North American continent from the Missouri River to the Pacific Coast, the Butterfield Stage predated the Pony Express by nearly three years. Buffalo soldiers guard a Concord style stagecoach somewhere in the American West, ca. ... 1857 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... 1861 is a common year starting on Tuesday. ... Postbox redirects here. ... Nickname: Gateway City, Gateway to the West, or Mound City Official website: http://stlouis. ... Nickname: The City by the Bay Official website: http://www. ... The Utah portion of the Pony Express Trail. ... Postbox redirects here. ... World map showing North America A satellite composite image of North America. ... The Missouri River is a tributary of the Mississippi River in the United States. ...

John Butterfield won a federal contract in 1857 and was paid $600,000 (USD) to get the mail between St. Louis and San Francisco in 25 days. At that time it was the largest land-mail contract ever awarded in the US. It was required by contract to go through El Paso, Texas and through Fort Yuma near present day Yuma, Arizona—the so-called "Oxbow Route". This route was an extra 600 miles more than what competing companies such as the Wells Fargo Stage would travel, and would eventually be acquired by Wells Fargo itself to cover John Butterfield's business debts to Messrs. Wells and Fargo. It was profitable for a time, however. Nickname: Star of the Southwest and Land of the Sun Official website: www. ... Yuma is a city located in Yuma county, Arizona, United States. ... A typical Wells Fargo store, located in Berkeley, California Wells Fargo & Co. ...

A correspondent for the New York Herald, Waterman Ormsby, remarked after his 2,812 mile trek through the western US to San Francisco on a Butterfield Stagecoach thus: "Had I not just come out over the route, I would be perfectly willing to go back, but I now know what Hell is like. I've just had 24 days of it." Ormsby traveled the entire distance of the Butterfield Route. The New York Herald was a large distribution newspaper based in New York City that existed between May 6, 1835 and 1924. ... Medieval illustration of Hell in the Hortus deliciarum manuscript of Herrad of Landsberg (about 1180) Hell, according to many religious beliefs, is a place and/or a state of painful suffering. ...

Employing over 800 at its peak, it used 250 Concord Stagecoaches and 1800 head of animals and 139 relay stations in its heyday. The last Oxbow Route run was made March 21, 1861 at the time of the outbreak of the US Civil War. Wells Fargo continued its stagecoach runs to mining camps in more northern locations until the coming of the US Transcontinental Railroad in 1869. March 21 is the 80th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (81st in leap years). ... 1861 is a common year starting on Tuesday. ... The American Civil War was fought in the United States from 1861 until 1865 between the northern states, popularly referred to as the U.S., the Union, the North, or the Yankees; and the seceding southern states, commonly referred to as the Confederate States of America, the CSA, the Confederacy... The official poster announcing the Pacific Railroads grand opening. ... 1869 (MDCCCLXIX) is a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Sunday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ...

See also

• Edward Fitzgerald Beale Creator of Beale's Cut, at Newhall Pass.

US Brigadier General Edward Fitzgerald Ned Beale (February 4, 1822 - April 22, 1893) is best known for his carrying out former Secretary of War Jefferson Davis Camel Corps experiment in the Coachella Valley of California. ... Fremont Pass is a mountain pass in Los Angeles County, California, USA, located at 34°2043N, 118°3026W. Historically called Newhall Pass and San Fernando Pass, it separates the Santa Susana Mountains from the San Gabriel Mountains. ...

External links

• John Butterfield (Desert USA)
• "The Story Of The Pony Express" from the National Postal Museum