Chino Vocational High School - Blue and White Yearbook (Chino, CA)

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m illMLD Perhaps no other period in the history of America is filled with more color, more excitement and daring than that in which the white man tried to conquer the untamed and expansive West. Not only was the adventurer confronted with some mutual understanding, but he faced the task of conquering climatic elements which were treacherous and defiant. The need for communication and tangible link between East and West was great. Finally in March of 1857 Con- gress passed a bill which brought into being the Butterfield Overland Mail. At San Francisco October 16, 1858, the Butterfield Over- land Coach completed its epoch making journey from St. Louis. As a tribute to both founder and driver, the first Over- land Mail by way of Jefferson City and Springfield, Mis- souri, Fort Smith, Ark., and Preston, Texas, completed its journey without a mishap. Hindered by rough mountain pas- ses, deep mud holes, and treacherous quicksands, stopped by swollen streams and hostile Indians, the Overland Mail in spite of these difficulties made its perilous and uncertain trip to its destination. Thus a new era in the expansion and set- tlement of the West was enacted. Settlement followed the course of the road this stage made possible, so that now the East and West are linked together by a chain of living Americans which can never be broken.

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CROMBIE ALLEN

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Butterfield and his associates had been successful among nine bidders in offering performance of services calhng for good four horse coaches or spring wagons, suitable for the conveyance of passengers, as well as the safety and security of the mails. The route specified in the contract runs from Memphis, Tennessee, converging at Little Rock, Arkansas; thence by Preston, Texas, to the best point of crossing the Rio Grande, above El Paso, and not far from Fort Fillmore; thence, along the new road being opened and constructed under the di- rection of the Secretary of the Interior, at Fort Yuma, Cali- fornia; thence through the best passes and along the best valleys for safe and expeditious staging to San Francisco. The trip was made from St. Louis, Missouri, to San Fran- cisco in rwenty-four days, eighteen hours, and twenty-six minutes. This was done in an Overland Mail Coach built by Abbot and Downing in Concord, New Hampshire, that could carry a maximum of fourteen passengers, nine seated inside and the others on the roof seat and box. This type of coach was used exclusively by Butterfield and was held to be the best in the country for the purpose of carrying mail and trans- porting passengers. After a period of a few hours the Stage would reach a swing station, with cabin and corral where the tired sweat- ing horses were unharnessed and replaced by fresh, spirited teams, eager to take their shifts. As a result of the rough road and the very dry atmosphere, there was much repair work at the home stations which called for the constant ser- vices of the versatile blacksmith. It would be well to describe here the coach that made possible the long, hard, arduous trip from St. Louis to San Francisco. Its body was slung on stout leather traces, and was shel- tered from the weather by leather curtains. At the rear of the body was a projecting ' boot ' with a leather cover, in which