06/12/2025
Special Delivery
Almost as soon as the first tent was erected in a new frontier town, somebody would arrive with a printing press, type, some paper and a sign saying “Gazette”, “Telegraph”, “Courier”, “Times”, “Citizen” or similar. Newspapers were everywhere. Many towns had two, three or more.
Many of these enterprises were run by just one or two people who would do everything from gathering news to writing it up, setting type, printing and selling the papers. This was often conducted with minimal sources such as tired, secondhand printing presses, incomplete typesets and a variety of poor-quality papers. Some editors had to make their own type. Many struggled to find something to print on – flour sacks, feed sacks and other pre-used paper and materials might be called into service as “newspaper”. Payment of subscriptions was also very hit-and-miss from a readership who themselves were struggling to create a life in a new, often harsh, environment. Many payments were “in kind” – chickens, hams, vegetables and such like would often replace actual coinage.
Whilst some newspapers persisted and are still with us today, many disappeared after just a few weeks or months as towns died or populations could not sustain sufficient subscriptions. Editors would then move on to the next new town and the next opportunity. It was not an easy life and that was all after the businesses had been established.
Before then, the men, women and equipment had all travelled across tens, hundreds or even thousands of miles in search of a new town where a newspaper could be set-up and a living could be made. As for everyone else who travelled west in pioneer days, the prospective newspaper men and women had to traverse very difficult country including deserts, raging rivers, hostile natives’ lands and so on. Many died on the journey or lost their belongings. Despite all that, they kept coming and, on arrival, did not hesitate to get to work.
Alongside the complete concerns, there were also travelling reporters sent out by established newspapers in bigger towns and cities. These intrepid people would explore the frontier, searching out interesting stories that may be of interest to their home paper’s readership. They would join new camps and towns, following the army, investigating strikes of gold or silver, experiencing the excitement of cattle towns, or tracing the route of the expanding railroad network.
Whichever variety of newspaper person was in town, they would be reliant on some form of postal service. Reporters needed to get their reports back to their home newspapers. Editors wanted national news from Washington and New York to add to their local output. Printers needed actual, good quality paper – known as newsprint – plus other consumable materials. How was all this achieved?
The simplest answer is “The United States Postal Service” but that incorporates many elements.
The US Postal Service can trace its origins back to the early 18th century when the British still ruled. After the revolution, the service expanded greatly under successive Presidents and Postmaster Generals. In 1800, there were 903 post offices and 20,817 miles of post roads. By 1854, the numbers had gone up to 23,584 post offices and 219,935 miles of post roads. After many years of local payment arrangements, the use of standardized postage stamps became compulsory in 1853.
However, this was still mostly in the original 13 colonies. In 1848, the overland postal service stopped at the western border of Missouri. To go further, people, goods and mail would travel by steamship from New York to Panama, followed by a trek across the isthmus and then another ship up to Los Angeles and San Francisco, the whole journey taking up to three months. From San Francisco, mail would be delivered locally by Wells Fargo who also had businesses ‘back east’ where the company had been founded.
Wells Fargo were the major player in the expansion of the overland mail services to the western frontier. Their first foray across the wilderness, in 1857, was via underwriting the “Overland Mail Company”, founded by John Butterfield. This was a new stagecoach business that won the contract to carry mail from Memphis through Texas, New Mexico and Arizona to San Francisco, taking an average of 21 days. This was much quicker than the alternative of three months but was not without its dangers. Rocky paths were treacherous but were the least of it compared with Indian attacks and water shortages. Butterfield instructed his staff that “nothing on God’s earth must stop the United States Mail”. Wells Fargo took full control of the company in 1859 and expanded it all over the west.
A couple of years after underwriting Butterfield’s mail coach business, Wells Fargo also underwrote the “Central Overland California and Pikes Peak Express Company”. Readers may know this enterprise better by its common name, the “Pony Express”. The route taken by small riders on sturdy and fast ponies ran from Missouri to California. Horses being changed at stations spaced at approximately 10 miles intervals. The first run was on 3rd April 1860 and took just nine days. However, the limited load that could be carried plus competition from other methods meant that the company could not make a profit and closed down after only 18 months.
One of the Pony Express’s competitors was the railroad as, by the 1860s, mail had been carried on trains for many years. The first official service started in 1864 on the Chicago and North Western Railway. The “Railway Mail Service” was born and continued to spread throughout the next decades. This service expanded greatly after the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869. Originally known as the “Pacific Railroad” and later as the “Overland Route”, this was the culmination of six years of construction work by The Central Pacific Railroad heading East to West, and the Union Pacific Railroad in the opposite direction. The expansion of the railroad network sped up travel times across the continent and contributed to the eventual demise of the stagecoach companies. It was the railroads that allowed the system of “Patent Insides”. Starting in the 1860s, this was the process of big eastern newspaper publishers providing both newsprint and news stories to the local frontier editors. Paper would be printed on one side with national items, leaving the reverse side blank for completion by the local printers. This was extremely useful for the remote editors/printers who now had newsprint and half their content. It was also a boon to frontier citizens who could now read what was happening around the States.
The other major player in the transmitting of news was the telegraph service. The earliest telegraph systems were invented in Europe in the 1790s and started to appear in the US within a decade, the first attempt being in Boston in 1807. In the 1830s and 40s, Samuel Morse invented and developed his system of dots and dashes which could be used along with constant power supplies and keys operating as switches to transmit messages clearly across long distances. Within a short amount of time, there were various telegraph companies operating across the States but, by the late 1860s, the biggest player by far was Westen Union. The expansion of the telegraph, often using rights of way originally created for the railroads, enabled messages to be sent across country in a matter of minutes. Prior to the invention and expansion of the telephone network, the telegraph was extremely important in the delivery of news. (This is despite the apparently constant cutting of wires and burning of poles by natives and outlaws – according to Hollywood, anyway.) Many telegraph offices were established at railroad stations and next to or within existing newspaper offices, thereby keeping delays in messaging to a minimum.
How much did it cost to send all this information? Rates varied over the years but increased usage meant that, from July 1885, it cost just 2 cents per ounce to send a letter anywhere. Newspapers and periodicals were deemed to be of national importance and incurred charges of just 1 cent per pound at the same time. Telegraph rates also varied over time and location. In 1861 Wyoming, the charge was $7 for ten words (expensive but cheaper than the Pony Express). By the end of the century, expanded business meant that Western Union could drop its prices such that the average message cost just 30 cents.
The existence of newspapers has been fundamental to civilizations from the 17th century up to the present day, despite the existence of radio, television and the internet. Isolated communities such as old west frontier towns were especially hungry for news about what was happening around them but also about their original home states and the nation as a whole. Without the Pony Express, the stagecoaches, the telegraph and the railroads, the creation of those newspapers and the dissemination of news would have been much slower and much more difficult.
R. F. Baker
Frontier Citizen ®️
✍️ 📰 🗞️ 🤠
(Information from many sources. Specific references available on request.)
