Page:Oregon, her history, her great men, her literature.djvu/198

 everal montlis before the fact was known at Salem* the capital. It was moie than a decade after this ev^t that the overland stage coaches were abandoned for the railway mail service as a means of postal transportation. The stage lines furnished means for the development of commendable enteiprises and many fortunes were made and lost in these undertakings. Most of. the lateral lines ¥rere known as the "pony express** ^stem, which required much courage and daring, but the western pioneer wpmt overcame all difficulties, until the evolution of the rail%vay, cheaper postage and the rural free deliveiy system, which now drivers mail daily to nearly every household in the United States. And many men and women are now living in Oregon who have seen this marvelous change—the reduction of the time required for a letter to travel from Oregon to the Missouri river from six months to three daysl