By Vera Nelson
On May 18th the Backoads History Tour will travel a portion of the Butterfield Stagecoach Route located in Latimer and LeFlore County.
The Butterfield Overland Mail (officially the Overland Mail Company) was a stagecoach service in the United States operating from 1858 to 1861.
It carried passengers and U.S. Mail from two eastern termini, Memphis, Tennessee, and St. Louis, Missouri, to San Francisco, California. The routes from each eastern terminus met at Fort Smith, Arkansas, and then continued through Indian Territory (Oklahoma), Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Mexico, and California ending in San Francisco.
This tour will take you to sites where the stage made stops. One stop still has an original store building, Decedents of the original store owners are renovating the building and grounds. The owner will be on hand to tell the history of the site and answer questions.
You will see old school houses, cemeteries and other sites.
For more information on this and other tours contact the Talihina Chamber of Commerce at 918-567-3434 or e-mail chamber@talihinacc.com