The Independent Mails

Overview by Gordon Stimmell

The foundations of the Independent Mails were laid by the Express Companies which were carrying packages over the existing rail, stage and shipping routes in the early 1840s. The pioneer express company was William F. Harnden who grew a big business in trans-Atlantic mail and whose flyers flooded eastern cities in 1843, soliciting major companies of the day. Other existing express outfits, such as Pomeroy and Adams and Hale & Company began contemplating carrying letters in late 1843. The idea was to undercut the extortionistic rates charged by the U.S. Post Office, and they did, typically charging 6-1/4 cents instead of 18-3/4 cents. The Independent Mails found avid patrons immediately and their rapidly expanding success bled so much potential revenue from the existing postal system that they were banned by an act of Congress in July 1845. The benefit was that the Independents triggered postal reforms that lowered rates to the American public.

The first Hale flyers were posted in Boston business establishments and taverns in December 1843, with the first Hale & Co. stamps, showing a batch of folded letters in early 1844. An example of this, shown above, is Scott #75L1

The earliest American Letter Mail Company stamps appeared in late January, 1844, depicting an American eagle (Scott #5L1), shown above.

In the summer of 1844, more Independent Mail operations launched, among them Letter Express reaching west from New York to Detroit and Chicago;

Hartford Connecticut Mail Route with its Harnden-inspired mail messenger striding over a steamship (Scott #80L1), a copy of which is shown above, both on and off cover. The stamp on the right has the word ‘South’ written across this, this was one of the early examples of a precancel.

A 1844 Pomeroy’s Letter Express adhesive on cover (Scott 117L1)

William Wyman’s Boston to New York 1844 independent mail stamp showing the first depiction of a locomotive on an American Stamp. Shown above both on and off cover, Scott #149L1.
An 1844 engraving of a locomotive of the same type depicted in Wyman’s stamp

Brainard & Co. Scott 24L1 on cover. Brainard’s operated their mail service on the Hudson River linking New York and Troy and Albany,

Overton & Co. with its carrier pigeon stamp, Scott #113L1

Lastly Hoyt’s Letter Express in Rochester. David Hoyt operated his short-lived letter express in July and August 1844. Hoyt’s letter express was not connected to the railroad, but instead utilized Genesee Valley canal boats to bring mail between Rochester and Danville, New York. Shown behind the stamp is a woodcut of a canal boat crossing the Genesee River at Rochester, NY in 1823.

All of these Independent Mails thrived on interdependency, that is, they cooperated by recognizing and forwarding each others’ mail matter in a huge grid that encompassed most of the mail routes in the eastern U.S. Surviving covers showing “conjunctive use” are highly sought after by collectors, where a single letter shows evidence of carriage by two or three Independent Mails companies. Shown above is a cover originating from Pomeroy’s Letter Express and forward onto the recipient by Boyd’s. It was this huge network, piggybacking on existing U.S. mail routes, that led to their undoing.

The massive operation was too successful to be permitted to continue. Once the rail lines were declared postal roads, their end was nigh. Those who survived continued to be permitted to carry packages, money matter and freight after July 1845, but not letters.

The legacy of the Independent Mails carried on with the advent of the far west opening up, with the Western Expresses in gold rush regions and of course, with the famous Wells, Fargo and Co. which launched its speedy pony express mail with its running pony stamps (Scott 148L8) across vast tracts of cowboy country in 1860-62 . Letters sped from the urban East to the California coast in 12 days, once again proving that private enterprise was faster off the mark than the U.S. government.

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