The Paper April 12, 2012

Page 1

Volume 43- No. 15

April 12, 2012

by lyle e davis It would take about 48 hours to drive, non-stop, from St. Louis, Missouri, to San Diego. That translates to about six days if you drove eight hours a day . . . which is probably a whole lot better travel plan. You’d arrive a lot more fresh and relaxed than if you beat your vehicle, and yourself, and/or your passengers, to death on a solid 48 hour drive. Still, six days ain’t so bad. Not when you consider that our pioneers had just a tad more inconvenience to make that same journey. Yessir (and ma’am), back in 1858, when the Butterfield Overland Mail Trail opened up, folks were hooping and hollering over the fact that it now took only 25 days to make that trip. Can you imagine how they’d carry on today? If they heard you could make that same trip in six days? With air conditioning? Or heat, if it was wintertime? And with lovely little restaurants and rest stops along the way? You think maybe we all have gotten a little spoiled with the easy life we lead? Prior to 1857, there was no organized, commercial system of transportation west of the Mississippi River. Although many people had crossed the United States by land, the word “overland” had not come into the American vocabulary. Consider that the 25 day travel time offered by the The Paper - 760.747.7119

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Butterfield Overland Mail Trail established a new speed record. Their initial purpose: was delivering mail. Delivering passengers was an afterthought, and, sometimes, an added, unwelcome burden.. When compared to modern standards, that may seem incredibly slow, but at the time it was nearly twice as fast as other routes. On the historical scale, the

Butterfield Overland Mail was symbolic of the doctrine of Manifest Destiny, which held that it was the duty and right of the United States to expand across the continent. “In the mid-19th century, bringing the continent together by stageline from St. Louis to San Francisco with such unheard of speed elicited wonder and excitement and tremendous pride,” said Mary A. Helmich of California State Parks.

The mail line avoided the Rocky Mountains and heavy winter snows by traveling south along the “ox-bow route” through Texas, the New Mexico Territory, Fort Yuma, and Southern California. The Butterfield Overland Stage Company, which was charged with delivering the mail along the route, was organized by businessman and financier John Butterfield

“Butterfield Stage” Continued on Page 2


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