October 9, 1858. . .First Overland Mail From California Reaches St. Louis

The Pacific railroad train pulled into the St. Louis station a little before 9 P.M. October 9, 1858, carrying the first overland mail from California to come over the Butterfield route. By train and stage coach the mail had come from San Francisco in 24 days, 18 hours, and 26 minutes, a few hours under the limit of 25 days.

John Butterfield, president of the Overland mail company, responded briefly to the speech of welcome by John F. Darby. A procession led by the St. Louis silver band then escorted the mail to the St. Louis Post Office. Mail bags containing copies of San Francisco newspapers were left at the Planters' house to be opened and handed around. A telegram of congratulations from the president of the United States also awaited Butterfield.

More than a decade earlier, efforts were begun toward establishing regular overland mail communication with the Pacific coast. So bitter did the fight in Congress become between the North and South over the location of the proposed route that not until 1857 was an act passed and a contract awarded. A company headed by Butterfield contracted, September 16, 1857, to carry the mails over a southern route, starting at St. Louis and Memphis, meeting at Fort Smith, Arkansas, and then proceeding west by way of Texas, Los Angeles, and on to San Francisco.

The first westbound mail left St. Louis about 8 A.M., September 16, 1858, on the Pacific railroad. From the railroad terminus at Tipton it was to be sent to Springfield by stage coach, from where stages proceeded to Fayetteville and Fort Smith. The first mail reached San Francisco at 7 A.M., October 10, with Waterman L. Ormsby, correspondent of the New York Herald, as the only through passenger.

Every Monday and Thursday morning the overland mail left St. Louis for San Francisco. Letters had to be marked “By the Overland Mail” and could be sent for 3 cents. Passengers were carried westward for $200 from St. Louis; the return rate was $100.

For more information on the Butterfield Overland Mail Route and John Butterfield see: