U.S. Mail sent by boat in 1800s
From rowboats to steamboats, early mail was moved by water. In 1811, cutting-edge technology and the nation’s mail system converged. There was no looking back.
Fast-moving steamboats began traveling the rivers, replacing packet boats, rowboats, and rafts as a means to carry mail.
By the 1820s, more than 200 steamboats regularly served river communities, and the Post Office Department issued contracts for these vessels to carry mail. In 1823, Congress declared waterways to be post roads.
Even before gold was discovered in California in 1848, the Post Office Department had awarded contracts to two steamship companies to carry mail between New York and California. The aim was to get a letter from the East Coast to California in three to four weeks. This target was often missed.
Mail traveled by ship from New York to Panama, moved across Panama by canoes and mules, then went to San Francisco by ship. When the Panama railroad was completed in 1855, it eased transit across the isthmus, but a speedier method was needed to move mail.
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Mr. Zip’s Tip: Mail has traveled by horse, mule, dog sled, hot air balloon, helicopter, train, bus, truck, and yes, camel, in the United States.
A self-supporting government enterprise, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation, 150 million residences, businesses and Post Office Boxes.
The Postal Service receives no direct support from taxpayers. With 36,000 retail locations and the most frequently visited website in the federal government, the Postal Service relies on the sale of postage, products and services to pay for operating expenses.
Named the Most Trusted Government Agency five consecutive years and the sixth Most Trusted Business in the nation by the Ponemon Institute, the Postal Service has annual revenue of more than $68 billion and delivers nearly half the world’s mail.
If it were a private sector company, the U.S. Postal Service would rank 28th in the 2009 Fortune 500.