In this issue: History of Postal Service in America Zoom in on America
Concord Mail Coach. Photo courtesy of National Postal Museum
From Horse to Mouse
What Counts Is Speed
Speed has always been a high priority in the delivery of
the mail. In ancient times, Greek and Roman mythology
presented winged messengers who performed mail deliv-
ery services for the gods. The Roman god Mercury often
was portrayed in a winged cap, while Hermes - his Greek
counterpart – often was presented in winged boots.
More recently, in 1959, the U.S. Postal Service and the
U.S. Navy conceived of so called “missile mail.” Tests were
conducted in which mail containers were red as cruise
missiles. While some containers reached their targets, the
success rate was too low and the project was cancelled.
Drawbacks of Royal Mail
European colonists in the 17th century America could count
on neither winged messengers nor missile mail. Their let-
ters and packets were collected in private inns and coffee
houses in bigger port cities and dispatched to Europe on
sailing ships. It could take months for the letters and pack-
ets to be delivered. Mail service between the colonies was
limited due to the lack of roads. The American colonists
considered the service, operated by the British royal mail,
too expensive.
Birth of the U.S. Postal Service
The U.S. Postal Service was created as an alternate to the
royal mail when the war for independence began in 1775.
The Continental Congress appointed Benjamin Franklin
as the rst Postmaster General. Franklin had experience
in the eld as he had been the Deputy Postmaster General
of the colonial system.
First Stamps
Speed was not the only problem of the early postal ser-
vice. The recipient of mail was responsible for payment.
Often times the recipient chose not to pay for the mail, so
page 2
A 1644 engraving shows Cupid delivering a letter.
page 3
delivery was refused. To solve the problem, stamps were
introduced in 1847. The rst stamps bore the image of rst
Postmaster General Franklin (on ve-cent stamps) and
the rst president of the United States, George Washing-
ton (on the ten cent stamp).
Gold Rush Helps Develop Postal Service
The need for fast and reliable mail delivery became even
more pressing with the westward expansion of the United
States, particularly during the Gold Rush era. Nobody was
patient enough to wait two years - the time it took Lewis
and Clark to traverse plains, mountains, canyons and riv-
ers of the vast country during their expedition in 1803 - for
the delivery of a letter sent from the eastern coast and ad-
dressed to a relative on the Pacic shore.
Efciency of the Pony Express
Since there was no easy way to deliver mail by ship from
the East Coast of the United States to the West Coast,
settlers turned to horses. The Pony Express started op-
erations in April 1860 with the goal of speeding up mail
delivery across the continent.
Seventy ve men were hired and 100 horses were pur-
chased to carry mail on horseback from the Pony Express
headquarters in St. Joseph, Missouri to California. The
Pony Express consisted of relays of men riding horses
carrying saddlebags of mail across a 2,000-mile trail. The
delivery time was 10 days and the cost to carry one let-
ter was $5 (the equivalent of $90 today). Eventually, the
Pony Express had more than 100 stations, 80 riders, and
between 400 and 500 horses.
The Pony Express was short-lived, however. By October
1861, the Pony Express was extinct. The invention of the
telegraph and construction of the Pacic telegraph line
quickly made the 10-day mail service obsolete.
In commemoration of the Pony Express, the Hashknife
Pony Express in Arizona offers horse delivered mail ser-
vice today. The Hashknife Pony Express makes its ride
Going to post her letter, Brennan, Alfred, 1853-1921, artist
(source) Library of Congress
page 4
page 5
The Old Stage-Coach of the Plains, painting by Frederic Rem-
ington. Photo Wikimedia
every January, traveling 200 miles from Holbrook, Arizona,
to Scottsdale, Arizona, and delivering 20,000 rst-class
letters by horseback. The ride is led by the Navajo Coun-
ty Hashknife Sheriff’s Posse, which was organized as a
search-and-rescue group in 1955. More than two dozen
riders in authentic cowboy clothing carry the mail, relaying
the bags along the route.
While the Pony Express was discontinued in 1861, horses
and carts were still used for some mail service at least
until 1869, when the transcontinental railroad provided
“fast” transportation for people, packages, newspapers,
and other goods.
Unusual Mail Deliveries
In its long history of operation, the U. S. Postal service
has had a few very unusual mail orders. One of the most
poignant deliveries was that of Henry ‘Box’ Brown, a black
slave who in 1850 mailed himself in a three-foot box from
Richmond, Virginia to the Anti-Slavery ofce in Philadel-
phia. The delivery took 26 hours, after which time Brown
emerged from the box safe and sound. He sang a Bibli-
cal psalm to announce his newly-gained freedom. In 1914,
the parents of ve year old Charlotte May Pierstorff sent
the girl by mail to her grandparents in Idaho. The post-
age, in parcel post stamps, was attached to the girl’s coat.
She traveled the entire distance to Lewiston in the train’s
page 6
Holladay’s Overland stage coach ofce. (source) Library of
Congress
mail compartment and the mail clerk delivered her to her
grandmother’s home. After this, sending people by mail
was prohibited.
Free rural delivery and low-cost bulk mail service led to a
steep rise in mail trafc. The low prices encouraged busi-
nessman W.H. Coltharp to send more than 80,000 bricks
via horse-drawn wagon and train to Utah for the construc-
tion of a bank building in 1917. This in turn resulted in
the imposition of a maximum weight limit for mail of 200
pounds per customer a day.
Vehicles Used by the Postal Service
The U.S. Postal Service is one of the few government
agencies authorized by the U.S. Constitution. It has al-
ways sought to utilize the quickest means available for
mail delivery. From horses, ships, and trains the Postal
Service moved on to cars and airplanes. Today the Postal
Service is owner of the largest motor pool in the world. In
2013, the Postal Service possessed more than 200,000
vehicles.
Mouse Wins over Horse for Speed
The advent of email and the Internet caused a sudden dis-
ruption in the use of traditional mail service. The number
of letters written on paper and sealed in neatly addressed
envelopes suddenly dropped, depriving the Postal Service
of much of its revenue. Mail is now sent in seconds to even
the remotest corners of the world with a click of a mouse.
It may not be as elegant and pretty as a paper letter, but,
as we noted at the beginning, “speed is the highest priority
of mail delivery.”
Win a Prize!
April 2014
CONTEST
How long was the Pony Ex-
press in operation?
Send the answer
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Deadline: May 15
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contest was:
Utah
The winners are:
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CONGRATULATIONS!!!
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page 7
Exercise 1
The Pony Express
“Men Wanted” The
undersigned wishes
to hire ten or a dozen
men, familiar with the
management of horses,
as hostlers, or riders on
the Overland Express
Route via Salt Lake
City. Wages $50 per
month and found.
The above advertise-
ment appeared in
Sacramento Union on
March 19, 1860 and
sought to employ young
men as riders and mail
carriers for the Pony
Express.
Read the article on pp.
2-6 and search the In-
ternet to answer the fol-
lowing questions about
the Pony Express:
1. How long was the
trail?
2. Where did it start?
3. What was the desti-
nation?
4. How long did it take
for a letter to cover the
whole distance?
5. How long was the
Pony Express in opera-
tion?
6. Why did it end in Oc-
tober 1861?
7. How much did riders
earn per month?
Activity Page
The map on pp. 2-8
shows the Pony Ex-
press National Historic
Trail. (source) Library
of Congress.
page 8
