[2] On March 3, 1857, Congress authorized the U.S. postmaster general, at that time Aaron V. Brown, to contract for delivery of the U.S. mail from St. Louis to San Francisco.

After a time he started a livery [1827] with but small accommodations…[7] His connection to Parker & Co. continued so long as they were still in business, and was succeeded by lines of his own, wherein he was a leading manager in the State until staging was superseded by railroads.

12,578 for $600,000 per annum for a semi-weekly service was assigned to John Butterfield of Utica, New York, who was president for the contract that was named the Overland Mail Company.

His obituary gives a good summation of his staging activities in Upstate New York and what led him to be involved with the Overland Mail Company: "His prior occupation was a humble one—that of driver of a stage-coach between Utica and Oswego.

At the time that railroads supplanted stages on the leading routes, Mr. Kinyon [Kenyon] was one of the most extensive owners of stage-coach property in Central New York.

"[20]After winning the contract on September 16, 1857, Butterfield had one year to organize the trail and immediately sent his hand-picked team, headed by Marquis L. Kenyon, to San Francisco to begin the task.

"A portion of the exploring party sent out by the Overland Mail Company, for the purpose of examining the routes for the carriage of the mails from the Valley of the Mississippi to the Pacific coast, which left this city on the 3rd of January last, reached Fort Smith, Arkansas, on their return home, on the 17th inst., accompanied by four of the party which left San Francisco on the 16th of January, on purpose to examine that portion of the route from the Pacific to the Rio Grande.

They left El Paso on the 22d of March, thus accomplishing the distance from the Rio Grande to Fort Smith—nine hundred and thirty miles—in the short space of twenty-five days, which we believe is the quickest time on record in crossing the Plains.

Even though its services ceased on the Southern Overland Corridor in March 1861 because of the impending Civil War, it was so efficient that it remained little changed until its demise with the completion of the railroad in 1880.

[26] Waterman L. Ormsby, the correspondent for the New York Herald, a passenger on the first stagecoach going west in September 1858, wrote in his reports of Marquis L. Kenyon's part in building the trail and the advantage for emigrants.

[32] In June 1860 Butterfield passenger Wallace reported to the Daily Alta California the following: "Between Vallecito and Algodones there are eight of these stations, varying from nine to sixteen miles apart.

These stations are of incalculable worth to emigrants, who are no longer forced to depend upon the precious supply of water which the wells, afforded, and which were liable to be covered up by the sand-waves that move over the desert.

The stations of the Overland Mail companies and the wells dug by these enterprising men, are proving of incalculable benefit to those crossing with their own teams.

"[45]This draft animal-drawn passenger and mail stage had a strong sub-frame covered by decorated wooden paneling with ornate doors and comfortably padded seats.

He stated in the report "The road is stocked with substantially-built Concord spring wagons..."[49] A July 1858 Memphis newspaper article tells how the stages were delivered and who made them.

"The Overland Mail Company received by the Lady Walton [riverboat], on Tuesday evening last, six stages, and on Wednesday, Mr. Glover left [from Fort Smith] to the direction of El Paso with four of them....

Abbot stage (celerity) wagons, partially designed by John Butterfield, were distributed on the 1,920-mile trail through the frontier from Fort Smith, Arkansas, to Los Angeles, California.

In the spring of 1858 a new trail was made from the western entrance of Apache Pass and then along an almost straight line to the north end of the Dragoon Mountains.

A newspaper article tells us of one of these situations: "Chidester also informs us of the means to supply the stations in the Llanos Estecados [in Texas], or Staked Plains, with water.

These trains run regularly, conveying water to the different stations, where large reservoirs are prepared to receive and preserve it for the use of passengers and the employés and stock of the Company.

"[55]Butterfield subcontracted the section between Des Arc and Fort Smith, Arkansas, to Chidester, Reeside & Co.: "The Overland California United States Mail left Memphis on Thursday [September 16] last.

"[59] Many correspondents' reports describe the problems for the Overland Mail Company using unbroken wild mules and mustangs between Fort Smith, Arkansas, and Los Angeles, California.

It is surprising that the use of wild draft animals did not hinder the Overland Mail Company stages from accomplishing its contractual agreed to time schedule.

Hitherto, in starting from any station, a person was obliged to stand at the heads of the horses—they being with a few exceptions' wild ones—until the driver was seated on his box, the reins gathered and everything in readiness, when he would give the signal, "turn 'em loose," or "let 'em go," and they would go upon a run.

At the closing of Butterfield’s operations on the Southern Overland Trail in March 1861, because of the start of the Civil War, many of the stages were confiscated and used by the Confederate Army as military vehicles.

On May 8, 1861, with 30 men, he left Los Angeles and successfully arrived at Salt Lake City on June 16 with 18 stage wagons and 130 horses.

A correspondent for the New York Herald, Waterman L. Ormsby, remarked after his 2,812-mile (4,525 km) trek through the western US to San Francisco on a Butterfield Stagecoach thus: "Had I not just come out over the route, I would be perfectly willing to go back, but I now know what Hell is like.

What was known as the "Grand Consolidation," of the three stage lines, that held the mail contract on the Central Overland Trail, was achieved by Ben Holladay, "The Stagecoach King."

These are the stations now in use and to be continued, from the facilities they afford of proximity to wood, water and feed; but I am informed the Butterfield Company propose erecting intermediate stations every twelve miles, on account of the greater amount of horses required for the accomplishment of the journey within the specified time of sixteen days from St. Joseph to Placerville.”[82]Under the Confederate States of America, the abandoned Butterfield route between Texas and Southern California operated under a new Federal contract as part of the Overland Mail Corporation route with limited success by George Henry Giddings.

"An attempt was made to fulfill the contract, beginning April 1, but faced with insurmountable obstacles and with the development of the Civil War, the contractors were compelled to give it up.