Stagecoaches of the Butterfield Overland Mail Co. began carrying passengers and mail from St. Louis to San Francisco across southern New Mexico in 1858, making the 2,795-mile journey in 21-22 days. In 1861 the service was re-routed through Salt Lake City, and here the trail followed the Rio Grande northward to La Mesilla. In 1582, trying to locate two Franciscan friars, Antonio de Espejo led an expedition up the Rio Grande near here after the friars had remained among the Tiwa Indians near Bernalillo when the Rodríguez-Sánchez Chamuscado expedition returned to Mexico in 1581. When Espejo reached the Tiwas in 1583, he learned that the missionaries were dead.