02/01/2022
U.S. Sen. John Boozman has introduced legislation to designate the 3,000-mile Butterfield Overland Trail as a national historic trail.
Boozman filed S. 3519 this month. It is cosponsored by Sens. Tom Cotton, R-Ark.; Martin Heinrich D-N.M.; John Cornyn, R-Texas; and Roy Blunt, R-Mo.
Boozman filed a similar bill in 2020, but it died in the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
[TRAIL MAP: Butterfield Overland Trail route not appearing above? Click here ยป arkansasonline.com/131trail/]
Boozman said the Senate had a lot to deal with that year, not the least of which was covid-19.
"Only about 2% of legislation introduced actually becomes law," he said.
Boozman said the national historic trail designation is important for the states -- including Arkansas -- through which the trail runs.
"A national historic trail designation recognizes the Butterfield Overland Trail's important role in the growth and development of our country," he said. "I will be working with my colleagues to ensure this path carved out and traversed by America's pioneers is appropriately preserved for future generations to visit and learn about."
Boozman said there has been some unfounded concern about property rights.
"People worry about things like property rights, taking land," he said. "We're not doing any of those things. This is about signage, designation as a national historic trail."
Boozman said the plan is to have signs along highways nearest to the original trail.
Under the heading of "Land Acquisition," the proposed legislation specifically states: "The United States shall not acquire for the trail ... any land or interest in land outside of the exterior boundary of any federally administered area without the consent of the owner of the land or interest in land.''
The designation effort has been in the works for a long time.
Boozman filed a bill in 2007 to study the trail's feasibility. It passed in 2009, and the National Park Service completed the study in 2018, approving the Butterfield for national trail status.
The Butterfield Overland Mail Co., also known as the Butterfield Stage, held a contract with the federal government to transport mail and passengers from St. Louis and Memphis west to San Francisco, according to the study.
This postal route and stagecoach service operated from 1858 to 1861.
The trail followed the "ox-bow route," according to Boozman's bill.
The stagecoaches didn't leave from St. Louis and Memphis. Trains were used for the first leg of the journey. Passengers and mail traveled by rail 160 miles west of St. Louis to Tipton, Mo., where they were transferred to Butterfield stagecoaches.
On the southern route, passengers had to take a ferry across the Mississippi River from Memphis, then catch a train to Madison, just east of Forrest City, where they boarded stagecoaches, according to the study.
About 337 miles of the Butterfield Trail was in Arkansas.
Stagecoaches made stops between Memphis and Fort Smith in St. Francis, Prairie, Lonoke, Faulkner, Conway, Pope, Yell, Logan and Franklin counties, according to a news release from Boozman's office. The northwestern route that came out of Missouri included stops in Benton, Washington and Crawford counties.
The two Butterfield routes converged at Fort Smith before heading southwest through Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California.
Some Butterfield stagecoach structures in Arkansas still exist, including Potts Inn at Pottsville and the barn at Fitzgerald Station in Springdale.
For the most part, the Butterfield route connected several known roads, according to the 2018 study. Researchers analyzed 3,292 miles of trail routes considered nationally significant, which included two Butterfield routes in Texas and Arizona. At one point, the Butterfield route dipped briefly into Mexico.
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