Commemorating The Bicentennial of America's Postal Service

Front:
US1OC200 Years of Postal Service 1776 1975 641445 200 WELLS PARGO &CO XPRESS FIRST DAY OF ISSUE MAIL Commemorating The Bicentennial of Americas Postal Service Tleetwood ficial First Day Cover•Bhiladelphia 76 PHIA,PA

Back:
STAGECOACH TO TRUCK Public coaches which regularly traveled between designated stations, or stages, came to be known as stagecoaches - one of the country's early means of long distance transportation which afforded protection for both passengers and cargo. Coming into prominence after the War of 1812, the new macadam roads enabled speeds of ten miles per hour to be attained. Although lacking paved roads, the New West was soon laced with stage routes. By 1862 Wells, Fargo and Company stagecoaches monopolized the express business west of the Mississippi River. The coming of the railroad signaled the demise of that colorful chapter in postal history, and yesterday's stagecoach is today replaced with the familiar semi-trailer highway transport which carries huge volumes of machine-sorted mail between major mail handling facilities of the United States Postal Service.