Authorized by Act of Congress on March 3, 1857, the Butterfield Mail and Stage Line became one of history's major horse-drawn transportation projects. A company headed by John Butterfield received the contract for semi-weekly overland service to San Francisco, California, and express pioneer William G. Fargo was another stockholder in the $2,000,000 venture. The line employed some 2,000 people and used hundreds of stagecoaches and thousands of animals. Along with receipts from freight and passengers, it received a $600,000 annual subsidy for carrying U.S. Mail. The company operated from September 1858 to February 1861 on a 25-day schedule for the 2,795 mile trip, with 8 to 9 days allowed for crossing Texas. The route began in Tipton, Missouri, and Memphis, Tennessee, united at Fort Smith, Arkansas, entered Texas near Sherman, continued westward through the Comanche-held frontier, and left the state at El Paso. Stage stations stood about every 20 miles, and the best known in this vicinity were Fort Belknap, Fort Phantom Hill, Mountain Pass, and Fort Chadbourne. Between Fort Belknap and Tucson, Arizona, mules pulled the coaches because they were less appealing to Indians. Each coach accommodated four to ten passengers at an average fare of $200 each, and mail and freight charges were ten cents per one-half ounce. From 1858 to 1861, the Butterfield Trail U.S. Mail Route from St. Louis to Los Angeles crossed at this point.