. Bell telephone magazine . d four hours;the westbound trip was made intwenty-four days, eighteen hours andtwenty-six minutes. At first. Concord coaches were used,accommodating four passengers andtheir baggage and 500 or 600 poundsof mail. Later, more commodiouscoaches were introduced, carrying sixto nine inside passengers and as manyas ten outside passengers. Whenservice was inaugurated, the passengerfare was $100 for the through east-ward trip and $200 from Memphis orSt. Louis to San Francisco. Later,the eastward through fare was raisedto $200, then lowered to $150. Thedifferential between e
. Bell telephone magazine . d four hours;the westbound trip was made intwenty-four days, eighteen hours andtwenty-six minutes. At first. Concord coaches were used,accommodating four passengers andtheir baggage and 500 or 600 poundsof mail. Later, more commodiouscoaches were introduced, carrying sixto nine inside passengers and as manyas ten outside passengers. Whenservice was inaugurated, the passengerfare was $100 for the through east-ward trip and $200 from Memphis orSt. Louis to San Francisco. Later,the eastward through fare was raisedto $200, then lowered to $150. Thedifferential between eastward andwestward fares was due to the factthat most of the demand for passagewas from travelers bound for Cali-fornia, many of whom went there toremain permanently. Mail was car-ried at the rate of one-half ounce forten cents. By 1860 the OverlandMail was carrying more first-classpostal matter than the Panama line ofmail steamers. At the height of itsprosperity, the Overland had about 19^0 The Conquest of a Continent 207. THE OVERLAXD lUEL STAIiTING FKOM SAN FBANCISCO FOR THE EAST.—[Fbom > Pa(?W6RAM] STARTING A TRIP OF THE OVERLAND MAIL Reproduced from Harpers Weekly of December li, 1858 one hundred coaches, seven or eighthundred men—of whom about 150were drivers—and about 1500 horsesand mules. 1 HERE was never any serious criti-cism of the operation of the OverlandMail, either as to speed or dependa-bility. But the choice of the southerni route continued to be a subject of con-itroversy. Advocates of the centralroute continued to point out that thesouthern route was not only circui-jtous, but that at certain points the; problem of providing water and pas- turage for horses and mules was ai serious handicap. Meanwhile, the! political issues out of which this con-\ troversy grew were becoming more[sharply drawn. Congressional ma- jorities were shrinking into minori-ties; minorities were becoming ma-jorities. Differences between theNorth and South were approaching ano
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