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Sale 101: The Westpex Sale

Table of Contents

Mail Routes

Lot 641    

(Desert Dispatch) Los Angeles, Cal, March, bold cds (LOS-5670, R5) with matching "Paid 3" in circle handstamp, overstruck with "Paid 6" handstamp, on circa 1855-56 buff cover addressed to Lieut. Du Barry at Fort Yuma, "via San Diego" routing endorsement, Very Fine, ex-Knapp.
Estimate    $1,000 - 1,500.

A RARE USAGE TO FORT YUMA CARRIED BY U.S. MAIL AND THE "DESERT DISPATCH".

Carried by U.S. Mail between LA and San Diego. At that point the U.S. Mail service turned it over to a military express or to the Desert Dispatch express that operated between Fort Yuma and San Diego as no mail service was establish between the two locations. Samuel Warnock and Joseph Swycaffer, retired U.S. Army, accepted a contract to carry mail and government dispatches from Old Town San Diego to Fort Yuma, and back. This was the earliest private mail express to New Mexico Territory (Arizona Territory in 1863) from the West.

Fort Yuma was established in 1852 to protect settlers and to keep the Southern Emigration route safe. It was located on the eastern side of the Colorado River with corrals, shops and government storehouses, etc. It was the grand depot for all posts in Arizona Territory. The Yuma post office was established on October 16, 1866. The Wells Fargo & Co. station at Fort Yuma was located in the Hinton & Hooper Store in Yuma City. The military records show Fort Yuma as being in California, the U.S. Government records show Fort Yuma as being in Arizona Territory until 1874 when the old fort was determined to be in California.

References: Illustrated in "By Way of Desert Dispatch or Military Express", Oscar Thomas, Western Express, Sep. 2016, pp. 49.

Realized: $1,050

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