butterfieldoverlandmail

The Long and Perilous Ride of Lieutenant Averell

Map of Averell’s Ride in Indian Territory by Muriel H. Wright from “Lieutenant Averell’s Ride at the Outbreak of the Civil War,” Chronicles of Oklahoma, Spring 1961. Courtesy Oklahoma Historical Society. Escape! The lone horseman picks his way along faint forest paths, never holding a straight line for long. Only his butternut trousers catch the afternoon lightContinue reading “The Long and Perilous Ride of Lieutenant Averell”

Who Ran Fisher’s Station?

A Mystery Revealed By Susan Dragoo It’s been a mystery for many years . . . who was the “Fisher” of Fisher’s Station, the eleventh (counting east to west) in a chain of twelve official relay stations on the Indian Territory segment of the Butterfield Overland Mail stagecoach road? That mystery may now be solved,Continue reading “Who Ran Fisher’s Station?”

Right in My Own Backyard: The Butterfield in Northwest Arkansas

Above: Elkhart Tavern is situated on Old Wire Road in Pea Ridge National Military Park. Before Old Wire was associated with the telegraph, it was used by the Butterfield Overland Mail stagecoaches on their route. Elkhorn Tavern sits along Old Wire Road in Pea Ridge National Military Park in northwest Arkansas. According to the National Park Service,Continue reading “Right in My Own Backyard: The Butterfield in Northwest Arkansas”

Trahern’s Station

(Image above is Brazil Creek near the Council House site) How slowly the scales fall from my eyes as I try to see into the past, the obscurity of the obvious sometimes clearing and other times going completely dark as I seek the truth in this landscape aged 200 years. Both extremes, along with the continuingContinue reading “Trahern’s Station”

More from the Butterfield

The second day of our trip on the Butterfield Overland Mail stagecoach route through Oklahoma yielded some treasures. See Retracing the Butterfield Overland Mail Route for photos from the first day.

Retracing the Butterfield Overland Mail Route

Continuing our exploration of the route of the Butterfield Overland Mail stagecoach route through Oklahoma (begun on a short trip last year about this time). The Butterfield stage ran from 1858 to 1861 and 192 miles of its route traversed what is present-day southeastern Oklahoma. Today we started in Spiro, Oklahoma and made it toContinue reading “Retracing the Butterfield Overland Mail Route”