Photo by Courtesy of American
Telephone & Telegraph Company
We had had a consuming desire, from the beginning, to see a pony rider, but somehow or other all that passed us and all that we met managed to streak by in the night, and so we heard only a whiz and a hail, and the swift phantom of the desert was gone before we could get our heads out of the windows. But now we were expecting one along every moment, and would see him in broad daylight. Presently the driver exclaims:
"HERE HE COMES!"
Every neck is stretched further, and every eye strained wider. Away across the endless dead level of the prairie a black speck appears against the sky, and it is plain that it moves. Well, I should think so. In a second or two it becomes a horse and rider, rising and falling, rising and falling—sweeping toward us, nearer and nearer—growing more and more distinct, more and more sharply defined, nearer and still nearer, and the flutter of the hoofs comes faintly to the ear—another instant and a whoop and a hurrah from our upper deck, a wave of the rider's hand, but no reply, and man and horse burst past our excited faces, and go winging away like a belated fragment of a storm!
So sudden is it all, and so like a flash of unreal fancy, that but for the flake of white foam left quivering and perishing on a mail-sack after the vision had flashed by and disappeared, we might have doubted whether we had seen anything at all, maybe.
Mail Transportation To-day
Mails are now carried over about 235,000 miles of railroads. Service on the railroads is authorized and paid for under a space basis system authorized by Congress and approved by the Interstate Commerce Commission.
The present post-office organization dates from about 1836, as the period that followed that year was one of transition from stage-coach to rail car for the transportation of mails. As railway mail service was increased and extended, sometimes railroad companies made arrangements with contractors to handle it. Occasionally contracts were transferred to the contractors at the same rates received by the railroads. Frequently the compensation was divided pro rata as far as the railroad covered the route. It was not uncommon for postmasters in large cities to make the arrangements for the department. Naturally such a lack of uniformity of procedure and control invited irregularities of one kind or another, although they were for the most part not serious ones, and were eventually corrected and a system of standards and of unified control put into effect.
Origin of Mail Classes
In 1845 any letter that weighed one half ounce or less was classified as a single letter without regard to the number of sheets it contained; a five-cent rate was charged for distances under three miles and ten cents for greater distances. In 1847 the postage-stamp was officially adopted and placed on sale July 1 of that year at New York. In the year 1848, 860,380 postage-stamps were sold; in 1890, 2,219,737,060 stamps were sold, and in 1921 there were issued to postmasters 14,000,000,000 adhesive stamps, 1,100,000,000 postal cards, 2,668,000,000 stamped envelopes, and 80,800,000 newspaper wrappers.