The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 61, July 1957 - April, 1958 Page: 15
591 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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The Butterfield Overland Mail Road across Texas
was some three miles upstream from his camp.60 It was here,
a mile or two below the state line, that the mail road crossed
the Pecos and extended due west in its route toward present-day
El Paso. Some eight and one-half miles west of the Pecos near
the center of Section 11, Township 1, Block 59, of the Texas and
Pacific Railway lands, the road crossed Delaware Creek. From
here the route of the Butterfield Trail is preserved by Texas and
Pacific Railway records most of the way across north Culberson
County.61 The writer has a blueprint from the Texas and Pacific
tracing of these lands, showing both Delaware Creek and the
road that lay to the north of it. At the crossing of Delaware Creek
in Section 11, the road was a mile and one-half south of the New
Mexico line. Nineteen and one-half miles west of this creek
crossing (somewhat more than that by the road itself) the mail
road reached Delaware Springs at a point nine miles south of
the New Mexico line. Thus, following the general course of
Delaware Creek, the Butterfield Trail bore somewhat to the south
of its westward objective in order to reach this watering place
at Delaware Springs.:2 Turning slightly to the north of west
from here for fifteen miles the road reached Independence Springs
just a little less than eight miles south of the New Mexico line."5
Five miles to the west the early mail road reached Pine Springs
about six and three-fourths miles south of the New Mexico line.'
Here the road could not continue in its westward course since
El Capitan Peak, two miles to the west, stood across its path.
Bending around the south end of this imposing mountain through
Guadalupe Pass, as does the present Carlsbad-El Paso Road, the
Butterfield Trail soon reached out of Culberson County into the
barren land of the Hudspeth County salt flats. In making this
0oOrmsby, The Overland Mail, 72.
51.These lands were first surveyed by Jacob Kuechler in 1879. They were re-
surveyed and mapped by Paul McCombs in 1884.
52Most of the road to Delaware Springs is shown on the McCombs map. Notes
on the margin of the map show the exact location (in Section 9, Township 2,
Block 62) of the springs and the Butterfield stage stand near by. Delaware Springs
were south 78oo' east 378 varas from the northwest corner of Section 9. The
stage stand was south 81022' 478 varas from the same point.
53The McCombs map shows Independence Springs in Section 43, Township 1,
Block 64.
54The McCombs map shows Pine Springs in Section 41, Township 1, Block 64.
Other notes on the map in Section 41, which may refer to the stage stand, are
illegible.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 61, July 1957 - April, 1958, periodical, 1958; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101164/m1/35/: accessed April 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.