Page 121 - Cooke's Peak - Pasaron Por Aqui

a special agent for the Postmaster General. He had traveled to San Francisco via steamer, leaving New York on July 6 and arriving in California on July 26, 1858. He returned on the first stage dispatched east, which left the plaza a few minutes past midnight on September 15. He arrived in Tipton, Missouri, at five minutes after nine on the morning of October 9. The mail continued to St. Louis by train, arriving there at a quarter till nine that night. The elapsed time, after the 2-hour 9-minute difference was ac-
11(*
that specified in the contract with the Overland Mail Company and the route varied materially from the specification. However, he argued that the necessity of obtaining water and avoiding Indians made such modifications necessary. He praised the line for its performance and closed his report noting:
Whether this success is to be permanent;
whether this great artery between the Atlantic
and Pacific states is to pulsate regularly and
uninterruptedly, does not, however, depend en-
tirely upon the Overland Mail Company. They
have conquered the natural difficulties of the
route, but they have yet to encounter an enemy
with whom they cannot successfully cope un-
aided. Irefer, ofcourse,tothetribesofhostile
Indians through whose territory they necessari-
lypass. TheirstationsinArizonaareatthe
mercy of the Apache, and the Comanche may,
at his pleasure, bar their passage through 117
Texas.
John Butterfield met the coach at Tipton and es-
corted the mail to St. Louis. He cabled President
Buchanan: “Sir — The overland mail arrived to-day
[sic] at St. Louis from San Francisco in twenty-three
days and four hours. The stage brought through six
Other congratulations were heaped on John Butterfield’s efforts. Harper’s Weekly observed that California was no longer a colony of the east, and the
London Times noted that the opening of the route would provide better access to a vast territory for Europeanimmigration.120 Furthermore,thearrival of Ormsby in San Francisco made the California newspaper editors realize they had been euchered. The San Francisco Daily Evening Bulletin editorial- ized that the feat had been an eastern tabloid’s “unworthy trick,” but sent one of its own reporters (later identified as a man named Baer) east 12 days later (October 22) but disdained to publicly name the correspondent.121
When Baer’s stage had progressed nearly to the Mimbres River, it passed a camp of 100 Indians of which about 30 were warriors. No problems ensued, however, and he remarked:
TheApachesnotattackingthestage, whenthey had the passengers so absolutely in theirpower, seemstoconfirmthepromiseofMangas,their chief, that the mules, stages or stations of the Overland Mail Company should not in any waybemolestedbyhisnation. Howlongthis stateofthingsmaylast, it wouldbeuselessfor me to conjecture, but, for the present, the inci- dent related above may be taken as evincing a
122 peacefiil intent.
Baer passed through Cooke’s Canyon on November 12, 1858, and the following day crossed the Rio Grande below Mesilla, noting that it was only one to three feet deep.
Several theories have been advanced for the peace held by Mangas Coloradas and Cochise in allowing the “swift wagons” to penetrate their territory without incident, except for a few isolated instances when stations were relieved of what the Indians considered “excess” stock. One source claimed that the reason the Indians did not molest the stage line was that John Butterfield furnished them more than
counted for, was 24 days, 18 hours, 26
Bailey noted that the total distance far exceeded
118
To this momentous announcement
passengers.”
the President cabled his reply:
Sir—Yourdispatchhasbeenreceived. Icon- gratulateyouupontheresult. Itisaglorious triumph for civilization and the Union. Settle- ments will soon follow the course of the road, and the East and West will be bound together by a chain oflivingAmericans which can never be broken.
$10,000 worth of beef every year.
123
Another
minutes.
Chapter 4
author credited Steck, the agent for the Mimbres
Apaches, with having negotiated with Cochise,
leader of the Chiricahuas, for safe passage for the
124
There is evidence that a conference took place with the Chiricahuas in December of 1858
near Apache Pass.
Agent Steck supposedly exacted a promise that
107
coaches.