The Postal Service of the United States in Connection with the Local History of Buffalo | Page 6

of
Lockport to Niagara.

In the "History of Onondaga County" it is stated that a Mr. Langdon
first carried the mail through that county on horseback from
Whitestown to Genesee in 1797 or 1798[G]; that he distributed papers
and unsealed letters by the way before intermediate offices were
established; that a Mr. Lucas succeeded Mr. Langdon in transporting
the mail, which, in 1800, had become so heavy as to require a wagon to
transport it that the first four-horse mail-coach was sent through in
1803; and that in 1804 Jason Parker ran a four-horse mail-coach twice a
week from Utica to Canandaigua. From an advertisement at
Canandaigua, copied by Turner, it appears that a mail-coach was that
year run twice a week between Albany and Canandaigua.
It is stated in Turner's "History of Phelps and Gorham's Purchase" (p.
174), that Luther Cole was the first to carry the mail from Whitestown
to Canandaigua--on horseback when the roads would allow, but often
on foot. The same history states that the mail-route from Canandaigua
to Niagara was established "about 1798" (1797) and that the mail was
carried through by Jasper Marvin--who sometimes dispensed with
mail-bags and carried the mail in his pocket-book--and that he was six
days in going and returning. The route, it is stated, was the usual one
from Canandaigua to Buffalo and then down the river on the Canada
side, to Fort Niagara; but other, and it is believed more reliable
authority states, that the mail at this time was carried through Cold
Springs, in the present town of Lockport, and did not pass through
Buffalo Creek.
The surveys upon the Holland Land Company's Purchase were
commenced in the spring of 1798, and the first wagon track on the
Purchase was opened that year. Before that time parties came through
from Canandaigua on the old Indian Trail. In 1802, Mr. Ellicott, the
Holland Land Company's agent, procured the establishment of a
post-office at Batavia, and the appointment of James Brisbane as
postmaster.[H]
In 1804 the Holland Land Company's survey of the inner lots of the
present City of Buffalo was made, and on the 26th of March in that
year Congress passed an Act in relation to post-routes which provides

that the post-route from Canandaigua to Niagara shall pass by Buffalo
Creek. From this it is clearly to be inferred that the mail to Niagara had
been previously carried upon a different route, as above stated.
In the Buffalo Directory of 1828 is the following statement:
The first mail received here was in March, 1803, on horseback. It was
conveyed from the East once in two weeks, in this manner, until 1805.
A weekly route was then established and continued until 1809. In 1810
the mode of conveyance was changed and a stage-wagon was used.
This statement is substantially repeated in several subsequent
directories and is probably nearly correct; although it will be
recollected that the post-office at Buffalo was not established until
September, 1804, and it appears by extracts from a Canandaigua paper
that a "stage road to Niagara" was advertised, in 1808, to leave
Canandaigua every Monday, at 6 o'clock a. m., and arrive at Niagara
via Buffalo every Thursday at 3 a. m. These stages were run by John
Metcalf, who, in April, 1807, had obtained from the Legislature of this
State a law giving him the exclusive right, for some years, of running
stages from Canandaigua to Buffalo, and imposing a fine of $500 on
any other person running wagons on said route as a stage line. He was
required to provide at least three wagons and three stage sleighs with
sufficient coverings and a sufficient number of horses. The fare was not
to exceed six cents a mile for a passenger and fourteen pounds of
baggage; and for every one hundred and fifty pounds additional
baggage he was to be entitled to charge six cents a mile or in that
proportion. He was to start on regular days, and between the first day of
July and first day of October he was to accomplish said route between
Canandaigua and Buffalo at least once in a week, unavoidable
accidents excepted.
In a report made to Congress by the Hon. Gideon Granger,
Postmaster-General, on the 21st of February, 1810, it is stated that in
March, 1799, it required to write from Portland to Savannah and
receive an answer forty days, and that it then required but twenty-seven;
that in 1799 it required between New York and Canandaigua twenty
days, and then required but twelve; and that most if not all the other

mails have been expedited proportionably according to their relative
importance.
On the 18th of April, 1814, Congress established a post-route "from
Sheldon, by Willink and Hamburg, to Buffalo," and it appears from the
books of the Post-office