On September 16, 1857, the John Butterfield Company received a federal contract to transport mail from Missouri to San Francisco in under 25 days, and semiweekly service began a year later. Twelve relay stations lined the Butterfield Trail in Indian Territory, with three in present-day Atoka County: Waddle's Station, Geary's Station, and Boggy Depot. The Butterfield Trail permitted early trans-continental communication and was vital to settling the West. Service was halted by the Civil War from 1861 to 1865, and afterward railroads transported mail more quickly, rendering the Butterfield Trail obsolete.