overland mail

American  

noun

U.S. History.

1. a government mail service, started in 1848, for sending mail from the Mississippi to the Far West.

2. (initial capital letters) a stagecoach line, established in 1858, linking Memphis, St. Louis, and San Francisco, which was then paid by the government to carry U.S. mail to the Far West. With various changes in ownership, name, and routes it continued until the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869.

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Example Sentences

Helped by his oldtime experience as an overland mail contractor.

From Time Magazine Archive

We are expecting the overland mail from England every day; it generally manages to come two days after I write home.

From Campaign of the Indus by Holdsworth, T.W.E.

While this story was being written another pioneer died on that overland mail route.

From When the West Was Young by Bechdolt, Frederick R. (Frederick Ritchie)

Military protection for the emigrant, a telegraph line, and an overland mail were among the ostensible objects.

From Stephen A. Douglas A Study in American Politics by Johnson, Allen

I have not the slightest doubt that I shall hear of him again as the proprietor of an overland mail, or the patron and capitalist of Greenland emigration.

From Campaigns of a Non-Combatant, and His Romaunt Abroad During the War by Townsend, George Alfred