Front:
USIOC200 Years of Postal Service
1776
1975
200
FIRST DAY OF ISSUE
1975
19101
Commemorating
The Bicentennial of
Americas Postal Service
Fleetwood
Yfcial First Day Cover Bhiladelphia 76
PA
PHILAD
Back:
CLIPPER SHIP TO SATELLITE
Sleek, light-hulled Yankee Clippers, pushed along by clouds of
billowing sail, dominated the scene for the two decades between
the discovery of gold in California and the completion of the first
transcontinental railroad. Mail, cargo, and passengers were
transported from the East Coast, around Cape Horn, to San
Francisco in the record time of eighty-nine days. But the heyday
of the Clippers was short, and they were soon replaced by
steamships which operated independently of the capricious
winds. Much of today's personal communications is transmitted
electronically across the continent by sophisticated satellites
which are stationed in synchronous orbit, thousands of miles
above the equator. Even more futuristic means of transmitting
messages are being explored. Delivery of mail by rocket has been
accomplished, and experiments continue in the transmission of
facsimile mail by television.
