Butterfield Overland Mail Bicentennial - Warsaw, MO
Posted by: 
YoSam.
N 38° 14.500 W 093° 22.876
15S E 466635 N 4232698
Wikipedia says it started in 1857, but that was when Congress approved it to be formed, actual beginning was September 16, 1858
Waymark Code: WMP5AX
Location: Missouri, United States
Date Posted: 07/04/2015
Views: 2
County of mark: Benton County
Location of mark: embedded into the street at the corner of Main St. & Van Buren St., Warsaw
Date of mark: 1958
Marker text:
1837 Original Survey Point 1958
Warsaw, Missouri, Sept. 16th
Commemorating Centennial Program
of the Butterfield Overland Mail
"The Butterfield Overland Express carried the first overland transcontinental mail by stagecoach through Arkansas as it went from the Mississippi River to California. Though only running from 1858 through 1861, it was the longest stagecoach line in world history at approximately 2,812 miles and was a major factor in the settlement and development of Arkansas and the American West before the Civil War. Its two main routes ran through Arkansas, westward from Memphis and south from Missouri, connecting in Fort Smith (Sebastian County). Many sites in Arkansas, such as Butterfield Trails Village in Fayetteville (Washington County), still reflect the era of the Butterfield Express.
"Before modern technology, the mail was America’s lifeblood. “Post roads” were created in the original colonies even before military routes so that the mail could be carried. As the new country expanded west of the Mississippi, Congress recognized the need for an overland mail service to the Pacific. When gold was discovered in California in 1849, bringing over a quarter of a million people to the West Coast, there was a huge demand for transporting mail, supplies, and passengers. At the time, the usual route was by boat, either around South America or with an overland crossing in Panama, both of which were time-consuming, expensive, and dangerous. After California threatened to secede if a faster mail service was not established, Congress voted in 1857 to subsidize a mail run from the Mississippi River to San Francisco. It required that supplies and passengers also be safely carried in twenty-five days or less. The six-year, $600,000 contract was awarded to John Butterfield, a former stage driver from New York, who was one of the founders of the American Express Company." ~ The Encycopedia of Arkansas History