Ben Holladay

Ben Holladay was an American businessman known for his involvement in overland mail and stagecoach operations. He purchased the Central Overland California and Pikes Peak Express in 1862 and later sold his Holladay Overland Stage Company to Wells, Fargo and Company in 1866.1

His companies played a role in mail delivery to the Pacific coast. The Southern Overland Mail Company, which he later acquired, was awarded a U.S. government contract in 1858 for a semiweekly stagecoach service from St. Louis to San Francisco. This route was abandoned with the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, and mail service shifted to a route through Salt Lake City. Stagecoach operations continued until the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in 1869.1