[email protected] wrote: What was Pacific Mail? (Perhaps a company > providing mail service by sea?) > > Thanks, > Diantha > Hi Diantha, yes the Pacific Mail Steamship Co was originally a fleet of three paddle-wheel steamers, the California, the Oregon and the Panama. They were built to deliver the US mail from Panama to Oregon. The mail came from New York to Chagres, eastern side of Panama, then carried across the Isthmus to Panama City. It was then transported up the California coast, stopping at San Diego, Santa Barbara, Monterey and San Francisco. The years between 1849 and 1851 kept the company so busy with passengers and mail from Panama to San Francisco that they did not go , as originally planned, up to Oregon. They transferred the mail in San Francisco to sailing ships that went on up to Oregon. In 1851, the Columbia was commissioned especially for the route up the northern coastal route. She stopped at Humboldt Bay, Crescent City, Port Orford, and Coos Bay on her way up to the Columbia River and Puget Sound. In 1867 the Pacific Mail Co began carrying US mail to Japan and China. Ships on this route included the Colorado, the Great Republic and the China. Trip time from SF to to Hong Kong was 32 days and 10 hours! Passage cost-$300.00 In 1925 the Pacific Mail Co was taken over by the Dollar line. (The American President Line then purchased the Dollar Line sometime later) It must have been such a grand time for the folks to see these ships enter the harbors carrying the precious mail from home! Have fun, Carolyn