A History of Grayson County, Texas Page: 79
209 p. : [3] port. ; 20 cm.View a full description of this book.
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GRAYSON COUNTY IS ORGANIZED 79
er of the Methodist church stationed in Sherman.
The Baptist had a church at Pecan Grove, and the
Methodist at Basin Springs and at Farmington. Most
of the preaching in the county was in school houses
and under brush arbors.
THE COMING OF THE OVERLAND MAIL
The crowning event of this period of our county's
history, 1846 to 1861, was the coming of the Overland
Mail. The United States government entered
into a contract with John Butterfield and associates
to operate the first mail route connecting the eastern
United States with the west. The line began at Saint
Louis and at Memphis, uniting at Fort Smith, and
continued to San Francisco, the Butterfield company
being allowed to select their own route. A six year
contract was given at $600,000 a year for semi-weekly
mail, the service to begin September 15, 1858, the
contract being dated September 16, 1857.
From Saint Louis, the route went 160 miles directly
west to Tipton, thence over the Ozarks to Fayetteville,
thence to Fort Smith. Proceeding through the Choctaw
country to Boggy, the road crossed Red River at
Colbert's Ferry, going through Sherman and on west.
Stations were to be provided every ten or twenty miles
where mail could be collected or deposited; the trip
was to be made in less than twenty-five days. Each
station included a keeper's house, stables, a blacksmith's
shop and eating houses. There was a station
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Lucas, Mattie Davis & Hall, Mita Holsapple. A History of Grayson County, Texas, book, 1936; Sherman, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth24648/m1/81/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.