Waddell's Station Site

Unfortunately, the first west-bound stage of the Butterfield Overland Mail passed through Waddell's Station (No. 2 of the 12 dotting the 192-mile route across Indian Territory from Fort Smith to Red River) in the middle of the night. As a result, the New York Herald Tribune correspondent Waterman L. Ormsby, who made that historic 1858 junket and left a memorable account of its trials and tribulations, provides precious little information on the stand. East of Blackburn's (Station No. 6) the natural desire of the stage driver to hurry -- thus building up a reputation for dispatch for the company -- had led to one of many minor crises to pop up en route. Here's the way Ormsby describes it:

The moon shone brightly, but its light was obstructed by the trees, and the driver had to rely much on his knowledge for a guide. To see the heavy mail wagon whizzing and whirling over the jagged rock, through such a labyrinth, in comparative darkness, and feel oneself bouncing - now on the hard seat, now against the roof, and now against the side of the wagon - was no joke, I assure you, though I can truthfully say that I rather liked the excitement of the thing. But it was too dangerous to be continued without accident, and soon two heavy thumps and a bound of the wagon that unseated us all, and a crashing sound, denoted that something had broken.

One of the seats had indeed broken. And, more importantly, the Wagon tongue had split. Repairs were made at Blackburn's. And then a drive of two hours brought the mail wagon through the "beautifully clear and bright" night to Waddell's. In the meantime, however, our reporter had finally managed to fall asleep in his blankets and he records only that he was awakened "by a familiar voice saying 'Git up there, old hoss,' and found it was the driver hitching up a new team." Waddell's, so far as Ormsby is concerned, was thereby relegated to the unhappy status of sleep-interrupter.

Some seventy years later (1930) the Conklings retraced the Butterfield route, left a somewhat more adequate description of what they believed to be the original Waddell's Station (cf. No. 7). Obviously an old log house of the pre-war type, it could well have been the original. But this house has since been replaced by a more modern one. An old cemetery with at least a dozen well defined (though unmarked) graves lies about a hundred yards to the east. The nearby well is believed to be the original one at the station.

Although the war terminated Butterfield service in 1861. Waddell's remained for a time as a community center. But it changed hands repeatedly, finally becoming an individually owned farm, which it remains down to the present. The name probably comes from William B. Waddell, one of the organizers of the famed Pony Express -- Russell, Majors & Waddell -- or Walter Waddell, a cousin, who joined him in some of his business enterprises before the war. The stand was later known as Rogers! Station, for John Pendergraf Rogers, a Cherokee and prominent early-day merchant. Rogers Station even boasted a post office from July 1, 1874, to Oct. 13, 1878. But by then the location had been changed to one mile north of Wesley.)

Today the original site is an isolated farmstead in a largely deserted area of trees, rocks, grass, and cattle. But a century and more ago it was an important link in a chain of continent spanning communications that represents one of the most dramatic -- and most important -- commercial ventures this young nation had yet known. As such it seems worthy of protection as a National Register site.