FAR WEST TEXAS — Efforts spearheaded by the National Trails Office, a division of the National Park Service (NPS), to develop an interpretive trail along the historic Butterfield Overland mail route are still underway with a comprehensive plan draft set to be completed this July.
The circa 1857 trail begins in Tipton, Missouri, and stretches westward ending in San Francisco, California. A significant portion of the 3,292 mile trail cuts across Texas, including parts of Jeff Davis County. In January 2024 staff from the National Trails Office held a public meeting in Fort Davis — one of several held in the route’s seven states — to discuss the historic designation of the trail and potential partnership opportunities.
Local communities along the trail will work with the National Trails Office on trail marking, signage and archaeological preservation to ensure historically accurate, consistent information is presented across sites. Other National Historic Trails the office administers include the Pony Express and the Trail of Tears.
The Butterfield Overland Trail was established as a National Historic Trail by Congress in 2023, paving the way for the three-year planning process still underway by the National Trails Office.
Lead planner on the project, Jill Jensen, said the trail met historic-designation criteria because of its role in shaping the nation. “Our lives as a whole were changed by the ability to send mail from the East to the West and connect up with the gold fields and to make for that federal presence out in the West that had never been there before,” Jensen said. “It really shaped the culture. It shaped transportation networks. It shaped financial networks. It just had a huge influence on that westward expansion in the United States.”
Since the January 2024 public meeting in Fort Davis — which Jensen said had the highest turnout — trails office staff have been hard at work traveling across the Southwest to identify the route and station remnants, utilizing tools like Lidar technology, Bureau of Land Management General Land Office (GLO) maps and more. “We have gone through and looked at 147 station sites from the very beginning of the trail in Tipton all the way through San Francisco,” Jensen said.
Luckily NPS staff completed most of the travel required for the project before a travel ban and spending freeze went into effect under the Trump administration. Jensen said the project is still on track despite those issues and significant delays are not currently anticipated.
There are a total of 25 known “high potential” historic sites along the trail in Texas, including 10 stations, historic sites and landforms along the “lower road,” a portion of the trail that starts at Horsehead Crossing on the Pecos River and dips down to Fort Davis, then winds back up to El Paso. Six historic sites were also located on the “upper road,” in Texas, which goes from Horsehead Crossing to Pinery Station in the Guadalupe Mountains and Hueco Tanks, also ending in El Paso.
National Trails Office staff are working with willing landowners, but are not actively reaching out to landowners along the trail or requiring participation of any kind. Some sites are located on public lands, like the stagecoach stop at the Fort Davis National Historic Site. Jensen said Fort Chadbourne, an old U.S. Army fort that is privately owned, has shown interest in participating in the interpretive trail in addition to the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation.
Jensen said the draft comprehensive plan will not include an in-depth evaluation of the high potential segments, and that work will take place at a later date starting in November 2025. The draft comprehensive plan will include a logo for the route so that interpretive design and signage can start to be developed, she said.
“The end goal for us right now is a comprehensive plan which guides interpretation, guides interaction with nonprofits, guides interaction with the federal government, and how they administer and manage the trail,” Jensen said. “It’s kind of a 30,000-foot view of this grand plan for the trail.”
For more information on the project, including maps and how to submit a public comment, visit parkplanning.nps.gov/projectHome.cfm?projectID=118557.