“We rode along at a somewhat rapid pace” — Missouri State Quarter Coin

Today, the Missouri State Quarter Coin remembers the overland mail contract signed 159 years ago and the first ride one year later.

John Butterfield, Sr., was a major stockholder in the venture. He rode in the coach out of Missouri with his son, John, Jr., driving. A New York newspaper correspondent joined the adventure and provided an account of the trip.

The Express Gazette, June 15, 1896, a periodical published in Cincinnati as the Official Journal of the Express Service of America, provided history for the first Overland Mail:

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THE OVERLAND MAIL ROUTE.

First Stage Journeys Across the Plains.

Reminiscences of an Adventurous Period.

The opening of the overland mail route to California in 1858 was regarded by the American people as one of the greatest and most important achievements of the age.

The author of that enterprise was John Butterfield, whose home was in Utica, N. Y.

On Saturday, Oct. 9, 1858, the first mail sent overland from San Francisco reached St. Louis, Mo., having accomplished the distance in 23 days and four hours, or one day and 20 hours in advance of the contract time.

New York and California were placed in direct communication with each other by means of a line of travel exempt from the dangers and annoyance of the sea; the time of passage had been shortened at least a week; and, more important than all, the premier pas qui coute had been taken toward the construction of the Pacific railway, which was to bring to this country the commerce of China, Australia, India and all the east lying behind our west, and render the metropolis of the United States the commercial emporium of the world.

Those who were engaged with Mr. Butterfield in this enterprise were William B. Dinsmore, William G. Fargo, James V. P. Gardner, Hugh Crocker, Marcus L. Kinyon, Alexander Holland and Hamilton Spencer.

Mr. Butterfield was at the time chief promoter of the American Express.

With these seven men a contract was signed on the 16th of September, 1857, for the opening of the line, in accordance with the provisions of the act of Congress of March 3, in which the following were the principal clauses:

“And the Postmaster-General is hereby authorized to contract for the conveyance of the entire letter mail from such point on the Mississippi river as the contractors may select, to San Francisco, in the State of California, for six years, … to commence within twelve months after the signing of the contract.”

The contract, which was signed in the following September, was for —

“Transferring the entire letter mail, agreeable to the provisions of the 11th, 12th and 18th sections or the act of Congress, approved March 3, 1857 (making appropriations for the service of the Post-office Department for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1858), from the Mississippi river to San Francisco, Cal., … commencing the 16th day of September, 1858, and ending with the 16th day of September, 1864.”

It was precisely one year after the signing of the contract that the line was opened by the simultaneous dispatch of mails from San Francisco eastward, and westward from St. Louis, Mo., and Memphis, Tenn.

The vehicles starting from the two latter points converged at Fort Smith and thence there was but a single line to the Pacific coast.

The success of the inaugural expedition was beyond all expectation.

It had not been hoped that the first mail coach would make the passage within the scheduled time, and it was scarcely hoped that it would reach Fort Smith before the 13th, nevertheless the journey was accomplished in forty-four hours less than the specified time, and the mail arrived at St. Louis in the evening of Saturday, October 9, having left San Francisco on September 16.

About $300,000 were laid out by Mr. Butterfield and his associates in the preparatory expenses, in fitting up the stations, procuring the rolling and live stock, etc.

The course adopted for the route was that known as the El Paso and Fort Yuma line, carried along the 32d parallel of latitude.

The total distance from St. Louis, via El Paso, to San Francisco was 2,651.5 miles.

The whole of this immense route had been organized into a post road.

Stations had been constructed at distances of ten miles from each other, and each station through the regions infested by Indians was guarded by from twenty to twenty-five men.

Mounted men and armed parties conveyed the parties through all the dangerous portions of the route.

Water trains, organized by the Overland Mail Company, conveyed water to the different stations of the staked plain by means of trains of mules.

From Memphis and from St Louis regular stage coaches were used, similar to those used at the time in the Atlantic States; but from Fort Smith onwards were of the description known as celery wagons, being similar in build to the common Troy coach, except that instead of the heavy wooden top it had a light canvas covering.

Each wagon had three seats, arranged so that the backs let down and formed one bed, capable of accommodating from four to ten persons.

The company had 100 of these coaches.

The starting of the mail coaches on their first trip was a most interesting occasion.

The first coach was driven from the Pacific railroad terminus in Missouri to San Francisco, a distance of 2,500 miles, by John Butterfield, Jr., who then was and still is a citizen of Utica, N.Y., and one of the presidents of the Overland Mail Company.

The elder Mr. Butterfield himself accompanied the coach as far as Fort Smith.

Besides Mr. Butterfield the only passengers were a New York newspaper correspondent and one or two individuals taken from Missouri to Fort Smith.

The correspondent, who was the only through passenger, wrote as follows, descriptive of the first stages:

“Our road for the first few miles was very fair coursing through several small prairies, where for the first time I noticed those traveling hotels so commonly seen in the western country. These are large covered wagons in which the owner and his family, sometimes numbering as high as a dozen, emigrate from place to place, traveling in the daytime, and camping near wood, water and grass at night.

“All along the wild western roads these hotels may be met in every direction, enlivening the way by their camp fires at night, and presenting pictures of domestic felicity which might be emulated in certain quarters more comfortable and less homely.

“We rode along at a somewhat rapid pace, because John, Jr., was determined that the overland mail should go through his section on time; and though his father kept calling out, ‘Be careful, John,’ he assured him it was ‘all right,’ and drove on.

“The first stopping was at ‘Shackelford’s,’ about seven miles distant, and we seemed to hardly become comfortably seated in the coach before our attention was attracted to the illumination of our destination — a recognition of the occasion which seemed quite cheering after the apparent previous neglect.

“The team wheeled up in fine style, and we found the change of horses ready harnessed and supper waiting. Mr. Shackelford assured us that he would have fired a gun for us, but he could not get it to go off.

“As the road to the next station, though only thirteen miles, was nearly all up hill, we were one hour and forty-five minutes in reaching it, which was considered pretty good time.

“Our horses were four in number, that being the allotment all along the line from Tipton to San Francisco. They were ready and harnessed at this point, and to change teams was but the work of a few minutes, and we were off again.

“This time we got a driver who was sick, and the road being somewhat bad made our progress slow, and the sixteen miles to Burns’ occupied three hours.

“The driver from there did not know the road well, and we had to feel our way along, as the night was dark, the roads very difficult and the coach lamps seemed to be of little use in the dim moonlight, and the sixteen miles to Warsaw on the Osage river occupied another three hours.

“Yet, though this might appear to be slow traveling, it was even faster than required by the time table. As we neared the stations we blew our horns to apprise them of our coming.

“At Warsaw, though we arrived about 3 a. m., and ahead of time, we found our horses ready harnessed, and were soon on our way to the next station, eleven miles distant. The road led through a ford of the Osage river and a dense forest full of rocky hills, and the night was as dark as pitch.

“As we left Warsaw we had to be preceded by a man on horseback with a light, to show us the way through the ford, but the river being rather low there was not much danger.

“We made the eleven miles in two hours, and I must confess it was a matter of the utmost astonishment how the driver ever found his way in the wilderness. We went ‘right along about east,’ as young John said, and much to the fear of the old gentleman that we would upset.”

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The Missouri State Quarter Coin shows with an image of a stock certificate for the Overland Mail assigned to John Butterfield.

Missouri State Quarter Coin