Existing comment:
Inland Waterways:
In the early 1800s, the postal service relied on riverboats to move the mail south and west. Overland routes were poor in the new territories, and far less extensive before 1850 than the water and rail routes shown on the map. In 1823, Congress declared all steamboat routes to be post roads, subject to federal regulation.
Even with faster and more reliable transport of the mails, steamboat service was unpredictable. Weather and accidents delayed service, and steamboat captains found it hard to maintain regular schedules demanded in postal contracts. The money they made from mail contracts often was not worth the trouble. |