Butterfield Overland Mail Route Through Grayson County
Sherman, Grayson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In the mid-19th century, mail traffic between the eastern United States and the western states and territories was accomplished via Panama and Cape Horn. In 1857, Congress authorized the postmaster to contract a new overland mail service. The successful bidder for the southern route was John Butterfield, who agreed to convey mail twice weekly in 25 days per run. The "Oxbow Trail" originated at St. Louis, Missouri, and Memphis, Tennessee, then merged at Fort Smith, Arkansas. The stagecoaches traveled through Indian Territory (later Oklahoma) and across northern Texas to Tucson, Arizona, and on to Los Angeles and San Francisco, California, traveling 2,795 miles from St. Louis. The trail entered Grayson County by crossing the Red River at Colbert's Ferry and proceeding into Sherman. It crossed the county toward Gainesville in Cooke County en route to Franklin (later El Paso). The citizens of Sherman are credited with especially courting the mail route to use Colbert's Ferry instead of entering Texas near Preston (8 mi. upriver). Sherman became a distribution point in 1858, bringing mail service to Texas settlements. Waterman L. Ormsby of "The New York Herald" was the first through passenger on the Butterfield Trail in September 1858. He described Sherman as "a pleasant little village of about six hundred inhabitants," and chronicled the remainder of his trip across Grayson County, writing "our course lay across a fine rolling prairie, covered with fine grass, ...the beautiful moonlight lit up the vast prairies making its sameness appear like the boundless sea and its hills like the rolling waves." The southern route was terminated in March 1861. The course of the trail is still visible in a number of locations in Grayson County. (1999)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Before the transcontinental railroad, mail bound for the West crept around by Panama or Cape Horn until Congress authorized an overland route in 1857. John Butterfield won the contract, promising twice-weekly delivery over 2,795 miles from St. Louis to California in 25 days. The stagecoaches crossed the Red River at Colbert's Ferry into Grayson County and made Sherman a distribution point in 1858, where journalist Waterman Ormsby found "a pleasant little village of about six hundred inhabitants." The southern line closed in 1861, but its ruts still scar the county.
Why it matters
The Butterfield route stitched a young, scattered nation together, proving that regular overland communication could bind the far West to the East before the rails ever arrived.
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Related people
- · John Butterfield
- · Waterman L. Ormsby
Related events
- · Butterfield Overland Mail
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Grayson County
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Grayson County grew from Holland Coffee's 1837 trading post at the Red River's Preston Bend into a hub of the Peters' Colony and, in 1846, a county named for Republic of Texas attorney general Peter W. Grayson. Its seat, Sherman, moved to its present site in 1848 and earned fame for so many courthouses and fine 19th-century schools that it was called the "Athens of Texas." The Butterfield Trail, cattle drives, and early railroads all crossed the county, and Lake Texoma later made it a tourist draw.
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