Transportation
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The San Antonio-California Trail was one of Texas' first cross-country wagon trails. Its San Antonio-El Paso section was surveyed in 1848 by a party under the intrepid Indian fighter Jack Hays. First used by emigrants and gold-seekers, it later became part of the San Antonio-San Diego mail line in 1857, one of America's pioneer mail services. Passengers paid $200 one-way to share a swaying Concord coach with 600 pounds of mail and faced bandits, dust, floods, and Indians during a 27-day journey of 1,500 miles. Service ended in 1861 at the outbreak of the Civil War.
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Van Horn, Texas · United States
