This site was a watering hole for the horses and mules of the Butterfield Overland Mail Line, known to most as the Butterfield Stage. The main route for these mail-bearing stagecoaches closely followed Temecula Creek, which is now covered by Vail Lake. This stage line initiated communication across 2,000 miles of forbidding desert and mountain wilderness, providing isolated Westerners with their first regular news and mail just prior to the Civil War. Funded by Henry Wells and William Fargo, John Butterfield obtained $600,000 in 1857 to start his company, which prospered as the only stage line linking the southern United States.