Fred, Here is a link to an interesting blog about the early postal system in Russia. While it mainly focuses on Novgorod Province using an 1808 postal route map the concept would likely be the same from Saratov to Moscow, etc. http://russianhistoryblog.org/2012/01/imagining-the-petersburg-moscow-road-i n-the-late-18th-century/ The postal roads and iamshchiki (i.e. post riders or coachmen) were supported by taxes collected from anyone on the revision tax rolls. The iamshchiki were granted agricultural lands and paid small per-trip fees in return for staffing and maintaining postal stations and providing drivers, horses, mounts and wagons. Tim In a message dated 1/24/2014 2:14:42 P.M. Pacific Standard Time, fkbetz@frontier.com writes: Hi all, I hope this is ok. Folks don't seem to be asking these kinds of questions lately. I'm reading a history of Germany which refers to the Imperial Post as one of the few viable institutions in the late Holy Roman Empire. Since I have letters from family members in Russia from the 20s and 30s, the relative viability of postal communication between the Volga colonists and their American relatives has been an issue for me. Were our ancestors able to communicate with their German relatives during the last quarter of the 18th century? Do any such letters exist? Thanks, Fred Betz Messer, Nue Messer