In San Francisco, another stage left on the 15th of September bound for the end of track in Tipton. That routine would also be repeated on Mondays and Thursdays every week for two and a half years.
The stages ran day and night at an average speed of approximately 5 mph. Teams were changed at relay stations that were placed an average of 16 miles apart. Per the contract, they had to complete the 2,700-mile journey in less than 25 days. The first stage that originated in Tipton arrived in San Francisco within 24 days.
By the time it arrived in San Francisco, the Tipton stage had passed six eastbound stages with mail for St. Louis and Memphis. In turn, each of those eastbound stages passed six westbound stages by the time they reached Tipton. As required by contract, Butterfield was delivering mail twice each week in both directions.
John Butterfield was the man in charge of American Express, but he had borrowed heavily from Wells Fargo. For example, it cost $1 million just to get the route ready. The contract paid $600,000 each year. After two years of pumping money into American Express, Wells Fargo booted Butterfield out and formed the Wells Fargo Stage company. Wells Fargo eventually became the largest and most successful stagecoach company in the country. It held that distinction until the completion of continental railroads replaced stagecoach routes. Once that happened, stagecoaches were only used between outlying communities and rail stations.
The first stage with the first transcontinental mailbag left Tipton with only one passenger that would complete the journey to San Francisco. He was Waterman Ormsby, a reporter for the New York Herald. Thanks to his series of stories, that historic journey was documented. His travel logs about that first trip are the most commonly referenced when studying the overland mail route.