From 1859 to 1861, during the time of the Butterfield Overland Mail, the stages and other traffic ran over a shortcut between Ojo de Vaca and Apache Pass, over the Peloncillo Mountains through Doubtful Canyon. However following the destruction of stage stations and coaches and the killing of their keepers and drivers at the outbreak of war with the Apache in 1861, this route was abandoned. Favored ambush country the shortcut was unwise to use unless the travelers were a strong detachment of soldiers or under military escort by one. Even so, in May 1864, California Volunteers fought a Skirmish in Doubtful Canyon with Apache that tried to ambush them there. Traffic returned to the Pacific Wagon Road route which then remained a primary east-west route in the southwest until the advent of the railroads in the 1880s.