Butterfield Overland Stage Line
Grandfalls, Ward County, Texas
Marker Inscription
One of the longest stage routes ever established, the Southern Overland Mail Line (Butterfield Route) which provided semi-weekly service St. Louis to San Francisco, 1858-1861. Followed substantially the route of this highway through Ward County.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
For a few extraordinary years, 1858 to 1861, the Butterfield Overland Mail ran stagecoaches twice a week from St. Louis to San Francisco, one of the longest stage routes ever operated. Its southern line threaded through Ward County along nearly the same path a modern highway follows today. The coming of the Civil War and, later, the railroads brought the great overland stage era to a close.
Why it matters
The Butterfield route knit a still-young nation together across 2,800 miles of desert and plain, prefiguring the transcontinental links that would define the American West.
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Related events
- · Butterfield Overland Mail
Themes & tags
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