[Photograph of Diamond Horse Ranch #1]

Photograph of Diamond Horse Ranch. This photograph is of a marker for the Diamond Station Butterfield Overland Mail Stage Stop at the Diamond Horse Ranch. It reads "The Diamond Station was a stop along the nearly 700 mile stretch across the Lone Star State for the Butterfield Overland Mail Stage Line Company. The Butterfield Overland Mail Company held the U.S. Mail contract for the first cross-country trek from St. Louis to San Francisco. marked as the first intercontinental mail route, the Butterfield Overland Mail Stagecoach made its first stop at the Diamond Station on September 21, 1858. The complete route took 24 days and covered 2, 812 miles, carrying mail and passengers. At this location Waterman Ormsby witnessed "the operations of harnessing a wild mule." He estimated it took thirty minutes per mule (four were used). The Diamond Station was kept by John R. diamond from 1858-1861