1840, there were only 2800 miles of rail, but already the great railroad tycoons or barons were amassing or overseeing the construction of large Class 1 railroads. Tycoons like George Gould, Cornelius Vanderbilt were helping to create the backbone of our national railroad system. These same businessmen were also highly criticized for their ruthless business practices, even when providing accommodations to the United States Post Office.
On November 30, 1832 the Post Office Department opened it's first contract with a railroad company "for carrying the mail on the railroad as far as West Chester (30 miles). Over then next six years there were a few additional contracts, but it wasn't until the passage of he Act of 1838 designating all railroads in the United States as post routes, that mail service by rail increased rapidly. In 1841 President Tyler understood the tremendous value of rail mail, but he was concerned about being exploited by the railroad tycoons.
In his 1841 address to congress, John Tyler requested that congress begin regulating the rail industry and restrain the monopolists:
"The transmission of the mail must keep pace with those facilities of intercommunication which are every day becoming greater through the building of railroads and the application of steam power, but it can not be disguised that in order to do so the Post-Office Department is subjected to heavy exactions. The lines of communication between distant parts of the Union are to a great extent occupied by railroads, which, in the nature of things, possess a complete monopoly, and the Department is therefore liable to heavy and unreasonable charges. This evil is destined to great increase in future, and some timely measure may become necessary to guard against it."
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