Y. X. Company, 1856-1857
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This page was last updated on September 14, 2026.
(Return to U. S. Mail 1850-1869 page)
Brigham Young Express and Carrying Company (Y. X. Company)
Milestones:
- Contract awarded February 1857
- Service commenced February 8, 1857
- Contract canceled June 10, 1857; service ended July 1, 1857
January 26, 1856
"1856 — At a mass meeting held in Salt Lake City, steps were taken for organizing the Brigham Young Express Carrying company, to carry a daily express from the Missouri river to California. In subsequent meetings shares were taken to stock a thousand miles of the road." (Deseret News, January 26, 1914)
In 1856 the Mormon Church bid for and received a four-year contract for monthly mail service between Independence, Missouri, and Salt Lake City. Wagons, animals, feed, stations, and men were established and mail service commenced February 8, 1857. Soon the church was preparing to carry freight as well. The route generally followed the established Oregon Trail and Mormon Trail east of Fort Bridger, over South Pass and on to Fort Laramie, with new permanent stations or settlements established as needed about 50 miles apart. The route continued eastward across Nebraska along the Platte River. After the service was shut down in 1858, many of the Y. X. Company stations became stage stations. Where possible, some station were specially surveyed as 640-acre lots of one mile square.
The Y.X. Company built its stations along the established Oregon and Mormon trails, branching into two routes at Fort Kearny, Nebraska, following the Mormon Trail to Omaha, and the Oregon Trail to Independence.
The main objective was eventually to have stations every 50 miles — the daily distance attainable by mule teams. Such stations would help Mormon emigrants by providing grain and other basic supplies, where hay and other crops could be raised.
The contract was canceled because of the political influence of rival mail contractors and all the Mormon mail and freight stations were closed for good.
As tensions mounted between Utah Territory and the federal government, the U.S. government canceled the contract during the Utah War of 1857–1858 and used the new well-built stone stations for military logistics.
(Read more about the Y.X. Company at BYU)
Leonard Arrington covers the Brigham Young Express and Carrying Company in Great Basin Kingdom, pages 162-169.
Arrington comment: "Although the activities of the Brigham Young Express and Carrying Company have never been the subject of an essay, the background is discussed in LeRoy R. Hafen, The Overland Mail, 1849-1869: Promoter of Settlement; Precursor of Railroads (Cleveland, 1926); and Curtis Nettels, "The Overland Mail Issue During the Fifties," Missouri Historical Review, XVIII (1924), 521-534. Good personal accounts are in Daniel W. Jones, Forty Years Among the Indians. (Salt Lake City, 1890); and Joseph M. Tanner, A Biographical Sketch of John Riggs Murdock (Salt Lake City, 1909)." (Leonard Arrington, "Great Basin Kingdom" page 460)
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