of the United States,
as shown by the census of that year, was only 3,929,827; and the whole
mail service was performed upon our seaboard line, passing through the
principal towns from Wiscassett in Maine, to Savannah in Georgia, and
upon a few cross or intersecting lines, on many portions of which the
mail was carried only once a fortnight.

On the 3d of March, 1791, the Postmaster-General was authorized to
extend the carrying of the mail from Albany to Bennington, Vermont. It
is probable that the post-office at Albany was a special office until
late in that year, as in an official list of post-offices, with their
receipts for the year ending October 5, 1791, New York is the only
office in this State; and by an official statement dated April 24, 1790,
it appears that the contractor from Albany to New York received the
postages for carrying the mail, and that that was the only mail service
in this State north or west of New York City.

It is stated in a "History of Oneida County" that the first mail to
Utica was brought by Simeon Post in 1793, under an arrangement with the
Post-office Department authorizing its transportation from Canajoharie
to Whitestown at the expense of the inhabitants on the route; and that
in 1793 or 1794, the remarkable fact that the Great Western Mail, on one
arrival at Fort Schuyler (Utica), contained six letters for that place,
was heralded from one end of the settlement to the other. It is added
that some were incredulous, but the solemn and repeated assurances of
the veracious Dutch postmaster at last obtained general credence.

On the 8th of May, 1794, sundry post-routes were established, among
which is one "from Albany by Schenectady, Johnstown, Canajoharie and
Whitestown, to Canandaigua"; and in July, 1794, four-horse "stages" were
run from Albany to Schenectady daily. The passenger fare by these stages
was only three cents per mile.

On the 31st of July, 1794, the Postmaster-General, Timothy Pickering,
advertised in the Albany _Gazette_ for proposals for carrying the mails
in this State, as follows: (1.) "From New York by Peekskill, Fishkill,
Poughkeepsie, Rhinebeck, Redhook, Clermont, Hudson and Kinderhook to
Albany," to leave New York every Monday and Thursday at 4 p. m., and
arrive at Albany on Wednesday and Saturday by 7 in the evening. (2.)
"From Albany by Schenectady, Johnstown and Canajoharie to Whitestown,"
to leave Albany every Thursday at 10 a. m., and arrive at Whitestown o