Butterfield Overland National Historic Trail Through Arkansas’ Pope & Conway Counties

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This new full color 236 page book reports on the mail carried by Butterfield's Overland Mail through Arkansas' Pope & Conway Counties between September 1858 and March 1861. After twenty years of effort by the Heritage Trail Partners, and Arkansas Senator John Boozman, in January of 2023, the US Congress established this route as The Butterfield National Historic Trail. That historic decision brings up the task of determining exactly where that trail crossed central Arkansas. This book outlines the four year process the author followed to determine its exact route across Pope and Conway Counties.Between September, 1858 and March of 1861, passengers and mail carried by the Overland Mail Company departed Memphis twice a week. Passing through Des Arc, Arkansas they crossed Pope & Conway counties about 520 times on their journey toward Fort Smith. At Fort Smith, after merging with the stagecoach from St. Louis, mail and passengers traveled day and night toward San Francisco.