Butterfield Overland Mail Route

The scar the bronze points at is here because of a fight in Congress in 1857. Northern members wanted the mail on a central route, Southern members had the votes for a southern one, and Congress settled it by letting the contractor choose. Aaron Brown of Tennessee was made Postmaster General the day after the bill passed. The stages ran this pass for two and a half years. Congress cancelled the contract in March 1861 and moved the mail north, and the road went quiet.

What the plaque says

Butterfield Overland Mail Route This pass, Puerta, between the desert and the cooler valleys to the north, was used by the Mormon Battalion, Kearny's Army of the West, the Butterfield Overland Mail stages, and emigrants who eventually settled the West. The eroded scar on the left was the route of the Butterfield stages, 1858-1861. The road on the right served as a county road until recent years. California Registered Historical Landmark No. 647 Plaque placed by the California State Park Commission in cooperation with the Sierra Club of California, San Diego Chapter, October 6, 1958.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Anza-Borrego Desert State Park — 7.1 mi
  Six hundred thousand acres of badlands, slot canyons, and palm oases, and the biggest state park in California.
• Borrego Springs — 15 mi
  A dark-sky town ringed by state park, with 130 metal beasts loose in the desert around it.

More markers nearby

• Box Canyon — 2.7 mi
• Vallecito Stage Depot (Station) — 5.2 mi
• San Felipe Valley and Stage Station — 6.5 mi
• Pedro Fages Trail — 8.6 mi