Southern Overland Mail, 1858-1861

The first winter showed what the Texas leg could cost. Historian Rupert Richardson, drawing on passengers' reports, counted at least 223 horses and mules taken by Comanche raiders between 1858 and 1859, including 80 from a herd of 200 bought to restock stations near Fort Belknap. The company had already bent its Texas route south through Fort Chadbourne, instead of following the Marcy trail it first planned, to stay out of the heart of Comanche country. Little was gained, since most frontier troops were infantry and could not chase horsemen.

What the plaque says

Southern Overland Mail, 1858-1861 Passed near this site, providing for the first time combined passenger and mail service between Pacific and Atlantic coasts. Operating west from St. Louis and Memphis, John Butterfield's company used 1,350 horses and mules and 90 Concord coaches and wagons. Stage traveled at a run, despite lack of good roads. A signal given approaching a station would have fresh horses ready and food on the table for crew and passengers. Route had stations 12 to 113 miles apart, and was sometimes changed to get water. Crew and passengers wore guns; to reduce danger of Indian attacks, mules (less coveted than horses) were used west of Ft. Belknap. The trip one way took 25 days -- seven spent crossing Texas, from Preston (now under Lake Texoma) to Jacksboro, Ft. Belknap, Ft. Chadbourne and El Paso. One way fare for the 2,700 miles was $200. Passengers rarely stopped off, because they might not find seats on a later stage. Merchants in Jacksboro and other towns used Butterfield's light freight service to make mail-order sales. Greatest contribution of the overland stage was its carrying news; coaches also brought mail from the west one to 10 days faster than it came by ship. Service was ended in 1861 by the Civil War. (1966) Incise on base: Early Travel, Communication and Transportation Series erected by Moody Foundation, 1966.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Fort Chadbourne — 2.2 mi
  An 1852 infantry post and Butterfield stage station on a Coke County ranch, its fallen stone buildings rebuilt since 1999 by the descendant of the family that has ranched the land since 1877.
• Z. I. Hale Museum and Rock Hotel — 19 mi
  A free museum in a Winters optometrist's office, a 1909 railroad hotel and a 1927 implement dealership, with Rogers Hornsby's hometown memorabilia and a 1912 horse-drawn cotton picker.
• Carnegie Library of Ballinger — 27 mi
  A 1909 limestone library with an Ionic portico in a railroad town the Santa Fe created in 1886, one of the few Texas Carnegie libraries still working in its original building.
• Abilene State Park — 27 mi
  A pecan-shaded park on Elm Creek in the Callahan Divide south of Abilene, with red sandstone CCC buildings, a summer pool, a bird blind and yurts under the trees.

More markers nearby

• Fort Chadbourne — 2.7 mi
• Route of the Southern Overland Mail Line — 2.7 mi
• Hayrick — 8.1 mi
• First Baptist Church of Bronte — 9.2 mi