Ontario and Steuben) was 15,359 free persons and 79 slaves.

In 1808 the County of Niagara (embracing the present counties of Niagara
and Erie) was organized, and its population in 1810 was 6,132. Of these
1,465 were inhabitants of the present County of Niagara, and 4,667 of
the present County of Erie. There were then in the county 8 slaves,
which number should probably be added to the aggregate above stated.

In 1820 the population of Niagara County was 18,156, of which 10,834
were inhabitants of the present County of Erie. There were then 15
slaves in the whole County of Niagara.

In 1821, the County of Erie was organized with its present boundaries.
Its population at each census since has been as follows, viz: 1825,
24,316; 1830, 35,719; 1835, 57,594; 1840, 62,465; 1845, 78,635; 1850,
100,993; 1855, 132,331; and 1860, 141,791.

It is probable that in 1790, Winney and Johnston were the only white
residents upon the territory now embraced within our city limits. In
1796, there were but four buildings in all that territory--as stated by
the late Joseph Landon. In 1807, there were about a dozen houses. This
number, it is said, had increased to more than 200 houses, when, on the
31st of December, 1813, the village was burned by the British and
Indians;--only the house of Mrs. St. John, Reese's blacksmith shop, the
gaol, and the uncovered frame of a barn escaping the general
conflagration.

The white population of the territory now comprised in our city limits
did not, in 1800, probably exceed 25. The earliest census report which
gives any information in regard to its population is that of 1810 when
the population was 1,508. It was 1,060 in 1814; 2,095 in 1820; 5,141 in
1825; 8,668 in 1830; 21,838 in 1840; 34,606 in 1845; 49,769 in 1850;
74,214 in 1855; and 81,129 in 1860. It is believed that it is now about
100,000.

But little reliable information in regard to the transportation of the
mails west of Albany from 1800 to 1824, can now be obtained; and as the
transportation service and the origin and progress of the system of
posts, by which, even now, much of this transportation service is
performed, are believed to be the most interesting of the topics of the
present paper (as that service itself is the most essential of those
connected with the Post-office establishment), it has been deemed proper
to refer to the probable origin of that system;--a system which in its
continued extension and constant improvement, ha