Connecting Kansas City & Denver through the unforgiving Plains
After spending several years in Kansas & Denver, businessman David Butterfield saw an opportunity to create a freight & passenger line directly across the plains carrying goods & people as quickly as possible from Atchison, Kansas on the Missouri River to the gold fields of Denver, Colorado. After studying survey maps, developing business relationships & raising $3 million, he formed Butterfield's Overland Despatch Company (BOD). By order of General Grenville S. Dodge, a survey party left to explore the Smoky Hill Route in 1865, finally discovering a viable route along the south fork of the Smoky Hill, about 11 miles from this spot. Isaac S. Eaton of this expedition chose the locations of its eventual 39 stations at approximately 12-mile intervals.
By end of June 1865, the BOD launched its freighting operations along the Smoky Hill Trail; the first stagecoach left in September reaching Denver 12 days later. From the outset, the Plains Tribes resisted the influx of travelers through their best hunting grounds, & the BOD lost profitability almost immediately. In March 1866, Butterfield sold it to Ben Holliday "The Stagecoach King." By November 1865, Holladay sold the line to Wells Fargo, merging most existing stagecoach lines into one company. While the BOD only ran for limited time, it proved the viability of the route to the railroad. Staging & freighting operations on the Smoky Trail ended when the Kansas Pacific Railway reached Denver in August 1870.
Traveling the BOD
Traveling on a BOD coach cost from $100 to $175 for a one-way trip. There were several types of stations along the route. "Home" stations sold meals to passengers for $0.50 to $1.00. "Cattle" stations provided hay for animals, while "Swing" stations allowed coaches to replace mules & horses. From Atchison to Fort Ellsworth, the trip was relatively comfortable, but it became less so to the west due to rougher terrain & NAtive American attacks. While forts made travelers feel safe, they were ineffectual against the Plains Tribes' hit-and-run tactics.
Roadside History-"BOD Markers"
In the 1920s, the Kansas State Historical Society asked Howard Raynesford of Ellis, Kansas to map the Smoky Hill Trail through Western Kansas. Raynesford did so, walking most of the route's 220 miles. Since then the disappearing route was marked with limestone posts at intersections with highways & routes. The posts are etched with "BOD 1865" & a groove showing the direction of the trail at that spot. Each post also has a plaque, reading: "Smoky Hill Trail-Butterfield Overland Despatch-Atchison to Denver-Traversed by General Fremont 1844-First Denver Stagecoach 1859-Most dangerous overland route-Retraced & mapped by Howard C. Raynesford-Ellis, Kansas-Marked placed 1963."
*Pond Creek Stagecoach Station
Pond Creek Stagecoach Station in Wallace County is one of th e onlyButterfield Overland Despatch stations remaining. The building, constructed of ponderosa pine in 1865, is one of the oldest between Atchison & Denver. A "home stations, Pond Creek had a trap door with three underground tunnels leading to stone-covered bunkers which were used for defense. When the BOD ended, the building was used first as a store, then an outbuilding. It was donated to Fort Wallace Museum in 1960 & is on the National Register of Historic Places.
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