From the album 'Southern Emigrant Trail'
Music and lyrics: John Malcolm Penn, ©Radio Flyer Music
For more information: [email protected]

In 1858 John Butterfield won a government contract of $600,000 a year for six years to carry mail from Tipton Missouri to San Francisco twice a week. Spending more than a million dollars getting the company started, he and his 800 employees ran between 100 and 250 coaches, 1000 horses, and 500 mules. The 'Concord' coaches they used weighed about 2,500 pounds and cost $1,300.
The Butterfield Overland Mail Company initially followed a southern route between St. Louis and San Francisco that avoided the snow of the Rocky Mountains by traveling through Texas, the New Mexico Territory and Southern California. The trip of 2,900 miles was always made in twenty-four days or less.
Though the coaches had the mail as their first priority they also accepted as passengers any hardy souls who were game for the adventure. Passage for the whole route cost $200, and a passenger was allowed twenty-five pounds of baggage. The coaches traveled twenty-four hours a day; there were no sleepover stops, only the hurried intervals at the station houses when they changed horses. Travelers were then offered meals of bread, coffee, cured meat and, on occasion, beans.
The song is an extension of actual suggestions by the Butterfield Overland Stage Company to passengers in Tipton before starting the journey.

State Historical Landmark NO. 647
BUTTERFIELD OVERLAND MAIL ROUTE
- Plaque Inscription: This pass, Puerta, between the desert and the cooler valleys to the north, was used by the Mormon Battalion, Kearny's Army of the West, the Butterfield Overland Mail stages, and emigrants who eventually settled the West. The eroded scar on the left was the route of the Butterfield stages, 1858-1861. The road on the right served as a county road until recent years.

Lyrics:
BUTTERFIELD STAGE
Chorus - Ride the Butterfield stage, in a Concord Coach today
Tipton Missouri to San Francisco bay, on the Butterfield Overland stage

It's 24 days to get there, conditions are hostile
Pleasures few, as you pass through, for 2900 miles

You'll be a fine passenger; you're looking fit and smart
A few supplies that we advise, before the stage departs

You'll need a rifle for the journey, and bring along a pistol too
And to save your life, a Bowie knife, keep your money in your boot
Chorus
Make sure those boots are sturdy, there's snakes and mud and rocks
To be prepared a half dozen pair, of heavy woolen socks

Bring three woolen over-shirts, and a well-made woolen pant
Six undershirts, woolen drawers won't hurt, and a broad wide-awake hat

You need gauntlet gloves and a cheap sack coat, and a rubber poncho too
And a greatcoat, no lightweight coat, or the chill will turn you blue
Chorus
And blankets are essential, you must bring two or three
We're not done the list goes on, let's talk about toiletries

Four towels, a sponge, and hairbrush, and soap I hate to nag
A comb completes, arrange them neat, packed in a oil-silk bag

A repair kit is a useful, as every traveler knows
Needles and pins and thread in a tin, for occasional bullet holes
Chorus
Son of a gun we're almost done, just a few things to include
Besides clothes and gear in this frontier, we got to talk about food

It's a mail route you're along for the ride, that's just the way things be
We'll feed woman and man when we can, but we cannot guarantee

Bring a private larder of crackers, some cheese and canned sardines
To accent and supplement, lean fare from the company
Chorus
And there's water to think about, besides the day's cuisine
The water may be bad when it can be had, bring along your own canteen

Aside from beef and biscuit, there's a little thing about sleep
We change horses and crew and coaches too, but you'll arrive in a heap
Chorus