When the system of mailcoach lines reached its highest perfection, the mails were handled as they are today. The great mails that passed over the Cumberland Road were the Great Eastern and the Great Western mails out of St. Louis and Washington. A thousand lesser mail lines connected with the Cumberland Road at every step, principally those from Cincinnati in Ohio, and from Pittsburg in Pennsylvania. There were through and way mails, also mails which carried letters only, newspapers going by separate stage. There was also an “Express Mail” corresponding to the present “fast mail.”

It is probably not realized what rapid time was made by the old-time stage and express mails over the Cumberland Road to the Central West. Even compared with the fast trains of today, the express mails of sixty years ago, when conditions were favorable, made marvelous time. In 1837 the Post Office Department required, in the contract for carrying the Great Western Express Mail from Washington over the Cumberland Road to Columbus and St. Louis, that the following time be made:

Wheeling, Virginia30hours.
Columbus, Ohio45½ “
Indianapolis, Indiana 65½ “
Vandalia, Illinois85½ “
St. Louis, Missouri94 “

At the same time the ordinary mail-coaches, which also served as passenger coaches, made very much slower time:

Wheeling, Virginia2days11hours.
Columbus, Ohio3 “16 “
Indianapolis, Indiana 6 “20 “
Vandalia, Illinois9 “10 “
St. Louis, Missouri10 “ 4 “

Cities off the road were reached in the following time from Washington:

Cincinnati, Ohio 60hours.
Frankfort, Kentucky 72 “
Louisville, Kentucky 78 “
Nashville, Tennessee 100 “
Huntsville, Alabama115½ “

The ordinary mail to these points made the following time:

Cincinnati, Ohio4days18hours.
Frankfort, Kentucky6 “18 “
Louisville, Kentucky6 “23 “
Nashville, Tennessee 8 “16 “
Huntsville, Alabama10 “21 “