Butterfield Stage Line

The Despatch was David Butterfield's venture. Born in Maine, he moved to Atchison after the Civil War and raised backing for the Butterfield Overland Despatch; his first freight train left Atchison for Denver on June 24, 1865, and the first coach on September 11, reaching Denver 12 days later. A seat cost $175 one way, and 39 stations were manned west of Fort Riley. Cheyenne and Arapaho warriors, resisting the road through their hunting grounds, struck coaches and stations, and in March 1866 Butterfield sold out to Ben Holladay, who sold the route to Wells Fargo that November.

What the plaque says

Butterfield Stage Line When the Kansas Territory was created in 1854, it stretched all the way to the Rocky Mountains. The current state boundary, a few miles west of here, took effect in 1861 when Kansas was admitted into the Union and the Colorado Territory was established. Thousands of Colorado-bound pioneers passed through here along the Smoky Hill Trail by wagon and on the Butterfield Overland Despatch. Beginning in 1865 this famous stage line carried passengers, freight, and mail from the eastern point of the railroad to Denver. The Omaha Herald cautioned stagecoach passengers to "expect annoyance, discomfort, and some hardships," although humorist and author Mark Twain found travel to be an adventure. "Our coach was a great swinging and swaying stage, of the most sumptuous description—an imposing cradle on wheels. It was drawn by six handsome horses." —Mark Twain, 1861 In 1865, Fort Wallace was established as a U.S. Cavalry outpost, about 25 miles east of here. The stage line operated until the railroad was completed in 1870. Erected by the State of Kansas

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Mount Sunflower — 11 mi
  The highest ground in Kansas, 4,039 feet on the Harold family's ranch half a mile from Colorado, with a sunflower of railroad spikes, a mailbox register and an invitation to stop by the house.
• Fort Wallace Museum — 21 mi
  A museum complex on US-40 in Wallace gathered from across the county: the 1865 Pond Creek stage station, the Weskan depot and a Swedish colony's 1888 church.

More markers nearby

• Colorado — 21 mi
• Fort Wallace — 21 mi