TIP #554 A LETTER FROM HOME I just returned from mailing some packages and letters at the post office and was griping inwardly at the cost of postage - and that it keeps costing more to send letters. Of course, email has cut down my expenses tremendously, but there are still things that must be mailed through the post office. It got me thinking about how it used to be and maybe I shouldn't gripe so much after all. A letter from home has always meant so much to us. A newly married son or daughter who have moved across the United States or abroad … how eagerly we rip open the envelope to read those precious words or perhaps looking for a picture of the new grandbaby. It's always sad to see the mailman go on by and not leave us any mail … even "junk" mail! Mail service has come a long way from the Revolutionary War days. Then, and for many years following, mail delivery was a slow process. It began on foot with delivery taking weeks, perhaps months, to be delivered. Then came the horseback delivery service that lasted for many years. The Pony Express, which did not run in Kentucky, did speed up delivery and provided many jobs for young men who were willing to ride mile after mile through the wilderness; changing horses at stations or being relieved by another driver at a point along the route. Then came stagecoach delivery. What an improvement! Not much faster than the horseback mail carrier, but more efficient. Bags of mail from the east were loaded on the stagecoaches and delivered to those on the western frontier - of Kentucky. Of course, there were problems - stagecoach robberies, lost bags … but the mail was normally delivered. With the coming of the steamboat, the postal service had another way for mail delivery - and then the railroad. Of course the railroads had their share of robberies too and thieves would grab the mail bags in the hopes that there was money in those letters. With the advent of the automobile, mail was then delivered by cars from one point to another - over things that might be called roads and at a tremendous speed of 10-15 miles per hour! It is noted by the United States Postal Service that other methods of transportation were used as experiments - hot air balloons and helicopters later. Looking back to the 1800's, the Post Office Department bought stagecoaches which operated on roads called "post roads." That terms remains in many areas today. In a recent visit back to my home area of Logan Co IL, there are historical markers for the Abraham Lincoln Post Road and on the east coast, many roads are still known as post roads. In 1823, certain waterways were declared post roads also and the steamboats carried the mail to areas where no roads yet existed. Can you imagine the excitement when people in town served by the postal steamboats stood by the shore and saw that old steamship puff in and the mail bags begun to be unloaded? According to the USPS, steam-driven engines which puffed along at 15 miles per hour were "denounced as a device of satan to lead immortal souls to hell". The first contract awarded for railroads to carry mail came in 1836. By 1896 the "horseless wagon" was experimented with to deliver the mail. In 1901, the mail was being carried in New York and it took 35 minutes to drive between the Buffalo NY post office to the next destination - a long trip of … 4 ½ miles! Mail was still slow, very slow. An example was given that it took six weeks for Californians to learn they had been admitted to the union! The Civil War brought about some changes too. The Post Office Department of the Confederate States of America was established 21 February 1861 by an Act of the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States. John Henninger. Reagan was appointed Postmaster General by Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States. His authority was over South Carolina, Mississippi, Louisiana, Florida, Alabama and Texas who had already seceded from the Union. Other states followed - Virginia, North Carolina, Arkansas and most of Tennessee. Mail service was constantly interrupted by the war. Postage rates increased, personnel were cut, stamps were in great demand .. it didn't go well. Finally, as the war wound down, federal mail service began again. By the end of 1866, over 3,000 southern post offices were returned to federal control out of almost 9,000. The "iron horse" revolutionized mail delivery. The Post Office had been considering using trains way back in the early 1830's but it wasn't until 1836 that the first contract was awarded - running from two towns in Pennsylvania. When mail started being carried on trains on a regular basis and all railroads were designated as postal routs; agents were appointed to accompany the mail to protect it and to "exchange the mail" at stops. A hook was along side the track, and as the train passed through, the agent tried to grab the mail bag(s) and hook it over this device, also removing any bags that were on the hook of outgoing mail. Mail was sorted early in the railroad cars. By 1930, over 10,000 trains were used to shuffle mail into almost every city and town in the United States. How did you send a letter in the 1800's? Envelopes were seldom used in the earliest days. The letter was folded and the address written on the outside of the sheet of paper. The letter writer took the letter to the "post office" to mail it; with post offices normally being in individual homes, mercantiles or other businesses. When delivered, the addressee had to pick up the mail personally; it was only in the big cities that a carrier might deliver it to the home for a few cents fee. Postage stamps were in use by 1847, but the letter writer had an option. They could send their letter and pay the postage, or have the recipient pay the postage when it was picked up. It wasn't until 1855 that pre-payment was required since many times the recipient refused to pay the fee and it cost the government money. In the big cities, "street boxes" began to be used by about 1858. By 1863 free delivery was set up in 49 of the United States' largest cities; by 1890, 454 post offices offered free delivery. It took a lot longer, into the 1900's that rural residents were granted free delivery. This is where the initials of RFD came into usage - rural free delivery. How well I remember getting mail on the farm with our address of RFD #2! Before free delivery out "in the country", farmers might not pick up their mail for weeks if they lived some distance from the post office. Thankfully, with RFD came some better roads. The mail carrier did not have an easy task in the earlier days, and many to this day don't! They had to ride their horses, mailbags hooked on the saddle; ford creeks, ride in the freezing weather and pouring rain. With the advent of the automobile, it still wasn't a picnic for the carriers. Cars broke down, many didn't have tops or windshields, roads (if you could call them that) would wash out and they would get stuck in the ruts … we should salute the old-time mail carrier! So, I guess I will quite complaining that postage is presently 37 cents and that a letter can be delivered for an extra fee overnight if necessary over the world. Even with instant delivery of our emails, there are many times that we need that mail carrier who walks to our door in all sorts of weather; if they would just quit bringing the bills too! My thanks to the USPS for many of the statistics above. © Copyright 18 August 2005, Sandra K. 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