Page 5 - ah1901

The Sacramento Daily Union reported the sale of the line. "W. Clifford" was the
Birch family lawyer and "Kelton" was Otis H. Kelton, the half-brother of Birch's
wife Julia:

"Overland Mail Contract. —The Washington correspondent of the Bulletin says:
I have learned from the Post Office Department that W. Clifford, of the Birch estate, has
arrived here. Upon examination of the matters connected with the Birch Mail contract, he
at once advised Kelton, the assignee, to relinquish the contract; and yesterday morning he
did so—selling out, with the Postmaster General's approval and assent, to Giddings [George
H.], who is now contractor, and who will no doubt fully answer the expectations of the
Department and public. Mrs. Birch's friends rejoice that she has thus been saved from
serious pecuniary disaster.
Kelton, as we learn, was not calculated to superintend the operations—and Giddings, who
owned the principal portion of the stock on the eastern end of the route, had no confidence
in his management, and would have retired from the affair altogether."
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Before Birch's departure from his home in Swansea, Massachusetts, for Califor-
nia, he left orders with his wife Julia to order stage wagons from J. S. & E. A. Abbot
to be used by the San Antonio and San Diego Mail Line. The stages were delivered,
but with the selling off of the Birch estate, five of the stages found their way to
Memphis, Tennessee, as shown in an ad for their sale:

“NOTICE—Contractors and Others Interested in Running Public Conveyances, FOR SALE
FIVE PASSENGER CALIFORNIA WAGONS, built by J. S. & E. A. Abbott [Abbot]. Concord, N.
H., expressly for the Overland Mail Route, (late J. E. Birch, Contractor,) completely furnished
for mail and passenger service, entirely new, with extra whiffletrees, brace screws, lead
bars, transom bolts, monkey wrenches, &c.
With the five above wagons are five sets of Harness for each five kegs of Wheel Grease,
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five boxes Crach Candles, Whipstocks and Lashes.”

After the selling of the Birch company assets, the line was sold to George H. Gid-
dings who partnered with R. E. Doyle:

"On the 9th day of March, 1858, Postmaster General Brown entered into a contract with
George H. Giddings, of Texas, for the transportation of the entire mail from San Antonio,
by named intermediate points, to San Diego, in California, and back, twice a month, 'using
therefore such means as shall be necessary to transport the whole of said mail, what every
may be its size and weight,' for a compensation of $149,800, for a term of years to end 30th
June, 1861….the contract with him, to take effect from the 1st of January, 1858."

The following restriction was the basis for amending the contract:

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