Details
BUTTERFIELD, John (1783-1869), William G. FARGO (1818-1881), and Alexander HOLLAND. Letter to the Postmaster General in Relation to the Overland Mail to California. [Washington, D.C.], 1 June 1857.
8o (226 x 148 mm). 7 pages. Printed wrappers; blue cloth folding portfolio.
VER RARE, apparently known in only two copies (including the present), addressed by the three authors to A.V. Brown, Postmaster General, about the submission of their proposal for "carrying an overland mail from San Francisco to the Mississippi river." They discuss the pertinence of the route and its points based on the experiences as mail contractors, or expressmen. They defend against the objections of some and state that "to enable us to bid for the route mostly to furnish the cheapest transportation and the most passengers, we carefully consulted all publications and maps easily accessible to us."
Their bid was accepted on 2 July 1857, noting the route: "'From St. Louis, Mo., and from Memphis, Tenn., converging at Little Rock, Ark.; thence via Preston, Tex., or as nearly as may be found advisable, 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 direction of the Secretary of the Interior, to Fort Yuma, Cal.; thence, through the best passes and along the best valleys for safe and expeditious staging, to San Francisco'...In the judgment of the Postmaster-general, the foregoing route was selected as combining more advantages and fewer disadvantages than any other. It was not until a year after the contract was signed, however, that everything was in readiness--the line equipped, stations built, and all things arranged for beginning operations. The great enterprise--then believed to be one of the most important in the country--was known as the 'Butterfield Overland Mail Company.' The act, as passed by Congress, provided for a compensation not exceeding $600,000 per annum for semiweekly service for a term of six years. The successful bidders were John Butterfield, Wm. B. Dinsmore, Wm. G. Fargo, D.N. Barney, Hamilton Spencer and some half a dozen other prominent citizens of the State of New York" (Frank Root, The Overland Stage to California, 1901, p. 10). RARE: the RLG Union Catalogue lists only the copy at the New York Public Library.
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VER RARE, apparently known in only two copies (including the present), addressed by the three authors to A.V. Brown, Postmaster General, about the submission of their proposal for "carrying an overland mail from San Francisco to the Mississippi river." They discuss the pertinence of the route and its points based on the experiences as mail contractors, or expressmen. They defend against the objections of some and state that "to enable us to bid for the route mostly to furnish the cheapest transportation and the most passengers, we carefully consulted all publications and maps easily accessible to us."
Their bid was accepted on 2 July 1857, noting the route: "'From St. Louis, Mo., and from Memphis, Tenn., converging at Little Rock, Ark.; thence via Preston, Tex., or as nearly as may be found advisable, 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 direction of the Secretary of the Interior, to Fort Yuma, Cal.; thence, through the best passes and along the best valleys for safe and expeditious staging, to San Francisco'...In the judgment of the Postmaster-general, the foregoing route was selected as combining more advantages and fewer disadvantages than any other. It was not until a year after the contract was signed, however, that everything was in readiness--the line equipped, stations built, and all things arranged for beginning operations. The great enterprise--then believed to be one of the most important in the country--was known as the 'Butterfield Overland Mail Company.' The act, as passed by Congress, provided for a compensation not exceeding $600,000 per annum for semiweekly service for a term of six years. The successful bidders were John Butterfield, Wm. B. Dinsmore, Wm. G. Fargo, D.N. Barney, Hamilton Spencer and some half a dozen other prominent citizens of the State of New York" (Frank Root, The Overland Stage to California, 1901, p. 10). RARE: the RLG Union Catalogue lists only the copy at the New York Public Library.