Imagine waiting weeks for your mail—then hearing the thunder of horses breaking the silence of the backcountry. That’s what happened on Oct. 6, 1858, when the Butterfield Overland Mail stagecoach rolled into Warner’s Ranch in northern San Diego County, near today’s Warner Springs.
Named after Juan José Warner, who received the land in the 1840s, the ranch had already hosted historic figures like General Kearny and members of the Mormon Battalion. In 1858, it became part of a 2,600-mile stage line connecting Missouri to San Francisco…