Trail had for settling the West cannot be understated, as written by President James Buchanan congratulating John Butterfield for his achievement: "Washington, Oct. 9, 1858 John Butterfield, Esq.: Sir – Your dispatch has been received. I cordially congratulate you upon the result. It is a glorious triumph for civilization and the Union. Settlements will soon follow the course of the road, and the East and West will be bound together by a chain of living Americans, which can never be broken." As stated by President Buchanan in the congratulation telegram to John Butterfield, increased emigration would be a result of the improved trail. Just after Butterfield's service started in September 1858, there were many newspaper accounts of a large increase in the number of emigrants on the trail. The San Antonio and San Diego Mail Line was operating on 900 miles of the improved trail and benefited by the regularly spaced water holes at Butterfield's stations. In October 1859, Superintendent Isaiah C. Woods complimented Butterfield for these improvements and the benefit to the San Antonio and San Diego Mail Line: "The San Diego Overland Route – Interesting News – From I.C. Woods, who has just crossed the continent on the San Diego and San Antonio Line, says the San Diego Herald, we gather some items which may be of interest: Woods pays a high compliment to the staging of the Butterfield Overland Company, along the Gila and over the Desert, particularly to Superintendent Buckley and Warren Hall, the Road Agent of this division [for Butterfield's Overland Mail Company. They have, he says, really worked wonders in organizing their road in a manner which would be a model in any country. The immigrants are coming slowly along, feeling in no hurry to enter California much before the rains have brought on the new grass. The stations of the Overland Mail companies and the wells dug by these enterprising men, are proving of incalculable benefit to those crossing with their own teams. The immigration on the Southern route, this year, will figure up from ten thousand to fifteen thousand souls, with a very large amount of cattle and sheep. The old complaints of the immigrants are at present unheard of, owing to the better knowledge of the country now so readily obtained.” San Francisco to Memphis As noted above, the route from San Francisco to Fort Smith was the same for both