The Dangerous Pursuit of the Transcontinental Mail Service

In ‘This Week in History,’ the Gold Rush created a demand for quick mail delivery, resulting in the world’s longest stagecoach trail.

Carl Eytel (driving) and George Wharton James in a horse-drawn wagon on the old Butterfield Stage Road—the first line across the North American continent—near Indian Wells in the Colorado Desert. Public Domain

In 1847, the population of San Francisco was less than 500. The city of the Golden Gate began to boom, however, after several events. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed in February 1848, ending the Mexican-American War and ceding 525,000 square miles of territory to America. Almost simultaneously, gold was discovered at Sutter’s Mill in California. Rumors of gold circulated, quickly boosting the population to 20,000. In 1849, San Francisco received another an explosive population boost thanks to President James K. Polk.

“It was known that mines of the precious metals existed to a considerable extent in California at the time of its acquisition,” President Polk stated to Congress on Dec. 5, 1848. “Recent discoveries render it probable that these mines are more extensive and valuable than was anticipated. The accounts of the abundance of gold in that territory are of such an extraordinary character as would scarcely command belief were they not corroborated by the authentic reports of officers in the public service who have visited the mineral district and derived the facts which they detail from personal observation.”

After Polk’s message was published, an additional 80,000 arrived in California, many moving to San Francisco. On Sept. 9, 1850, California was admitted as the 31st state. The California Gold Rush continued another five years, propelling average, even poor Americans, into the upper classes. Indeed, it was not just Americans who struck it rich, as the Gold Rush proved to attract fortune seekers from around the globe. Considering this global diversity, communication was key for citizens—and noncitizens—of the new state.

Mining on the American River near Sacramento, circa 1852. Public Domain

A Congressional Duty

The Gold Rush had advanced America’s westward expansion at an unexpected pace. A vast majority of the West had not been settled. Those traveling across the country to California via wagon trails found the six-month journey dangerous for numerous and obvious reasons: harsh weather, mismanagement of supplies, illness, and Indian attacks.

There were two other options to reach California. Taking a ship around the horn of South America and up the Pacific Coast; or taking a ship to the Chagres River in Panama, crossing the Isthmus on land, then boarding another ship up the Pacific Coast. These two options were safer (though they came with their own risks) and more comfortable, though not much faster.

These options were also the routes to deliver mail. The slow arrival of mail quickly became an issue, culminating in a demand for faster delivery. Congress worked to create overland mail routes. Eighteenth- and 19th-century Americans viewed the mail system as pivotal in keeping the expanding country unified and connected. This was a prime reason that this duty of Congress “to establish post offices and post roads” was enshrined into the Constitution.

A Dangerous Route

Up until the end of the 1840s, the overland mail route extended as far as Independence, Missouri, to Salt Lake City via the Mormon Trail. A new route was authorized by Congress to extend from Salt Lake City to Sacramento. The $14,000 annual contract for carrying the mail to California was awarded to Absalom Woodward and George Chorpenning. Starting in both locations at the same time, the new mail carriers agreed to deliver the mail to the assigned cities once a month. It proved a much more difficult task than anticipated.

Chorpenning began the route on May 3, 1851, heading east and successfully arriving in Salt Lake City a month later. When Woodward attempted his eastward trek in summer, he was foiled by attacking Indians and he barely escaped. His second attempt, when heading back to Sacramento in August 1851, was again foiled by Indians. The following month, Indians killed two of his mail carriers, and, in October, Indians attacked again though the carriers escaped. Trying once more in November, Woodward and his team worked their way to Salt Lake City. They never arrived.

Chorpenning nonetheless continued the mail service. After traveling through the Sierra Nevada Mountains during that first winter of 1851 to 1852, which nearly killed one of the teams of men and mules, it was decided to use a different route. Chorpenning established the winter route, sending the mail to San Francisco where it was sent south on a ship to San Pedro, disembarked, and then taken overland to Salt Lake City.

Ultimately, Chorpenning received two four-year contracts: one in 1854 and another in 1858. His mail route, which changed from Salt Lake City to Placerville, California, to Salt Lake City to San Pedro, increased its runs from monthly to biweekly to weekly.

The Transcontinental Route

As Chorpenning was completing his first four-year contract and hoping for a second, Congress authorized the U.S. Post Office Department to establish a new, much longer, and faster mail service that would use “good four-horse coaches or spring wagons, suitable for the conveyance of passengers” twice per week. The six-year contract was worth $600,000 per year—far and away the largest it had offered for mail service.

Interestingly, part of the contract required this new mail route, which would extend from some point along the Mississippi River to San Francisco, to be created by the contractor and not the government. Additionally, as railroads continued to pop up across the eastern section of the continent, it was believed that this transcontinental pathway would hold sway over the location of the eventual transcontinental railroad.

The day after Congress authorized the contract, President James Buchanan appointed Aaron Brown as postmaster general. After numerous routes were submitted to Brown, he found none of them suitable and thus chose one himself (despite the contract). Considering the possible role this route would play for the future railroad, there was debate over the route being in the north or south—indeed congressmen from neither the North or South wanted the route too far in the opposite direction. Nonetheless, Brown decided on a rather southerly route.

Postmaster General Hon. Aaron V. Brown. Public Domain

As a compromise with both the North and the South, the route would start in two locations: St. Louis and Memphis. The two routes would then meet in Little Rock, cut through Oklahoma, sweep across Texas to El Paso, over New Mexico and Arizona, and then north through California to San Francisco. One of Brown’s primary reasons for choosing this path was the weather. Traveling south would ensure snow, and thus freezing weather, would rarely, if ever, be an issue. It was certainly better than trying to establish an additional winter route.

The Butterfield Overland Mail Company

Etching of "The Overland Mail Coach," 1877, taken from a book by Hiram C. Hodge. Public Domain

The new stagecoach route was the longest in the world, stretching approximately 2,800 miles. In September 1857, the contract was awarded to John Butterfield, who had been a stagecoach driver early in his career before becoming a successful businessman. He had actually once partnered with Henry Wells and William Fargo in a business venture.

Butterfield was a visionary, sensible businessman and exceptional organizer. He sent agents to scout areas to establish way stations and water storage tanks every 10 to 15 miles (some sources suggest every 30 miles). After about a year preparing the new route and spending approximately $1 million to do so, the Butterfield Overland Mail Route was ready. It was during this week in history, on Sept. 15, 1858, that, technically, the first transcontinental mail service began.

Drawing of John Butterfield accompanying an 1878 biography. Public Domain

The Butterfield Overland Mail Company’s stagecoaches brought the mail to San Francisco in quick succession and in record time. The company consistently met its agreement to cover the 2,800-mile stretch in less than 25 days, even one time breaking its own record of covering the route in 23 days, 23 hours, and 30 minutes (a feat commemorated at the ruins of The Pinery Station). The stagecoach drivers abided by Butterfield’s quasi-mantra: “Nothing on God’s earth must stop the mail!”

War and Technology

When Postmaster General Brown died unexpectedly on March 8, 1859, he was replaced by Kentuckian Joseph Holt, who immediately worked to reduce the number of trips mail carriers took to California in order to save money for the government. The Post Office routes to California were financially inefficient enterprises. The Butterfield Overland Route, however, was saved by the dictates of its contractual agreement.

The Butterfield route was fast, though it was outpaced by the famous Pony Express, which could cover the approximately 2,000-mile journey from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento in about 10 days. The Pony Express, however, lasted only 18 months when it was eventually outpaced and overcome by the establishment of the transcontinental telegraph line in October 1861.

The Butterfield Overland Mail Company suffered a similar fate, but for a different reason. When the Civil War began in 1861, the federal government was forced to cancel its contract as the route now ventured through Confederate territory.

Much of the Butterfield equipment was shifted to other mail companies. A number of stagecoaches were confiscated by the Confederacy. The war spelled the end of the Butterfield Overland Mail Company, though other mail companies utilized different routes, like the Oregon Trail and the Mormon Trail, to reach the Pacific Coast. But even these mail companies were eventually put out of business with the completion of the transcontinental railroad in May 1869.

Overland mail commemorative stamp issued by the U.S. Post Office, 100th anniversary, Oct. 10, 1958. Public Domain

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