The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 20, July 1916 - April, 1917 Page: 125
426 p. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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The Postal System of the Republic of Texas
Christi, and instructed the postmaster at Galveston to forward by
water (when an opportunity occurred) all mail for Corpus Christi,
and to collect five cents extra on letters so forwarded. A route
was also established from Galveston to Matagorda, via San Luis
and Velasco, and contracts let as for the other routes.
In June, 1845, a route was established from San Antonio to
Laredo; and another from Corpus Christi to Point Isabel.a At
the same time, the secretary of state was empowered to. establish
a route from Galveston to New Orleans and to contract with any
Texan vessel plying between these ports to carry the mail, pro-
vided the cost did not exceed one-half the tonnage duties on the
vessel."
The above routes were in operation when annexation was com-
pleted and the postmaster-general at Washington, D. C., assumed
control of the postal system of Texas.
Annual Reports
From the reports submitted by the postmasters at the different
offices and from the reports of the postmaster-general, some esti-
mate can be formed of the volume of business transacted. The
reports for all 'years, however, are not available, and many of
those that are available are so incomplete that it is difficult to
get a clear conception of the system with its workings and income.
Hence, no attempt is made to give all the reports, but some rep-
resentative ones are used to show the volume of postal business.
On October 29, 1840, the postmaster-general filed a report with
President Lamar showing the receipts of the post-office depart-
ment, and offered a number of suggestions for the improvement
of the service. The income for the year 1839 is given in this
report as $12,512.84. The income for the first three quarters of
1840 was $11,640.31. During this period a number of outstand-
ing accounts were collected, making the total cash received
$16,81 0.54. The expenditures for the first three quarters of 1840
were $75,422.01. It is evident from this report that there was
much irregularity in reporting and remitting by the different post-
masters.
4Gammel, Laws of Texas, II, 1099.
Ibid., II, 1204.
BIbid., II, 1212.125
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 20, July 1916 - April, 1917, periodical, 1917; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101070/m1/131/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.