Palm Spring Station is a former

Butterfield Overland Mail Butterfield Overland Mail (officially the Overland Mail Company)Waterman L. Ormsby, edited by Lyle H. Wright and Josephine M. Bynum, "The Butterfield Overland Mail", The Huntington Library, San Marino, California, 1991. was a stagecoach service i ...

stagecoach station located at Palm Spring in San Diego County, California. This station built in 1858 by division agent, Warren F. Hall is commemorated by California State Historical Marker Number 639 Palm Spring.

History

Palm Spring, a desert oasis amidst a mesquite thicket and a few palms close to Carrizo Creek, was a popular camping spot on the

Southern Emigrant Trail :''The Southern Emigrant Trail should not be confused with the Applegate Trail, which is part of the Northern Emigrant Trails.'' Southern Emigrant Trail, also known as the Gila Trail, the Kearny Trail, Southern Trail and the Butterfield Stage ...

during the California Gold Rush. It became a water stop for the San Antonio-San Diego Mail Line in 1857 and a

stage station A stage station or relay station, also known as a staging post, a posting station, or a stage stop, is a place where exhausted horses could be replaced by fresh animals, since a long journey was much faster without delays when horses needed rest ...

site for the Butterfield Overland Mail Company in 1858. Located 9 miles east of Vallecito stage station and 9 miles west of Carrizo Creek Station, it was a relay or swing station that provided water and a hostler who changed out tired coach teams with 5 horses kept there for the purpose. Palm Spring Station continued in this role until the Butterfield line shut down in the spring of 1861. It was used by the

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union of the collective states. It proved essential to th ...

for water for its troops and their animals forage on the road to

Fort Yuma Fort Yuma was a fort in California located in Imperial County, across the Colorado River from Yuma, Arizona. It was on the Butterfield Overland Mail route from 1858 until 1861 and was abandoned May 16, 1883, and transferred to the Department o ...

during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

. It does not seem to have been revived as a stage station, by later stage lines to Fort Yuma during their time of operation between 1867 and 1877 as most of the other Butterfield stations were, but was still a watering place. During March and April 2001, a surface survey and remote sensing and archaeological investigations including limited shovel test pit explorations were completed. No remains of the stage station were located at the Palm Spring site. At the current time, it is unknown if or where remains of Palm Spring Stage Station still exist.http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/22491/files/carrizo_creek_historical_and_archaeological_investigations_june_2007.pdf Stephen R. Van Wormer, Sue Wade, Susan D. Walter, Susan Arter, An Isolated Frontier Outpost, Historical and Archaeological Investigations of the Carrizo Creek Station, California State Parks, 2007, p.5 It may be that the station was only a tent or a brush shelter and a small corral that has left little trace after over 150 years.

References

Former settlements in San Diego County, California Former populated places in California Butterfield Overland Mail in California American frontier Stagecoach stations in California Transportation buildings and structures in San Diego County, California 1858 establishments in California {{California-transport-stub