It was established in 1859 in a merger of J.C. Burbank & Company and Chase & Allen, at which point it controlled all the major stagecoach lines in the state.
In 1851, he started a one-man operation transporting letters, documents, and cargo from St. Paul to Galena, Illinois, and back by stagecoach.
In the winter of 1857–58 they were hired by the Hudson's Bay Company to help transport goods from St. Paul to their northern outposts in the Red River Valley.
They agreed to operate freight wagons, stage coaches, and steamboats up the Red River to Fort Abercrombie, and then to outposts farther north.
While the stage road ran on land already ceded by the Ojibwe people, the company's steamboats passed through territory held by the tribe's Red Lake and Pembina bands.
They wrote to the company requesting compensation for the huge increase in traffic that frightened fish and game and disturbed the spirits of their ancestors.
The negotiators, however, were unable to reach the Red River Valley because of the start of the Dakota War of 1862, and talks did not proceed.
In the late twentieth century, in recognition of their contribution to the history of Minnesota, efforts were made to preserve the remaining stagecoach roads.