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Butterfield’s Overland Mail Stage Stations in California
from San Fernando Mission to Posey Creek

by
Gerald T. Ahnert

Figure 1. September 16, 1858, John Butterfield Sr. and John Jr. just before they boarded the first
westbound Overland Mail Company Concord stagecoach in Tipton, Missouri.
John Jr. was the driver and John Sr. was the conductor.
From: Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, November 27, 1858.

The Butterfield Overland Mail by Roscoe P. and Margaret B. Conkling, published in
1947 by Arthur H. Clark Co., was based on their 1929-1933 trip along the trail. This
monumental pioneering effort has provided a basis to build on for further research to locate
the sites of the company’s stage stations.
In the preface of their book, they state: “No documents in the archives in Washington,
or in the libraries of New York or St. Louis, or matter from other published sources could
give us the information we sought. Thus, it was that our efforts were spurred, and we
determined to explore the route from end to end and collect ever available item of interest
connected with it.” Much of their information was collected from old-timers along the trail,
and in the preface, they state, “we grew a little skeptical of the rural bards.… We were,
however, far from satisfied with the results of this reconnaissance.”
Our knowledge of this Old West enterprise has been expanded by Internet sites
providing primary sources such as newspaper and university archives.
This report covers a 128-mile section, from the Overland Mail Company’s San
Fernando Mission Stage Station to its Posey Creek Stage Station, northeast of the
present city of Bakersfield.

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