The Post-Boy, built at New Albany, in 1819, was intended for the conveyance of mail between Louisville and New Orleans, under an act of Congress, passed March, 1819. This was the first attempt on western waters to carry the mail in steam boats.[269] Steamboats now multiplied rapidly on the western rivers. In 1817, nine were building on the Ohio and Mississippi, sufficient to make the total number of twenty on those waters.[270] In 1818 there were about twenty-five boats,[271] and the Weekly Register of November 7, says, "Our Western papers inform us of the launching of several new steamboats, and they seem to be building by dozens."[272] The trade between New Orleans and the upper and adjacent country was carried on in this year, by twenty steamboats carrying about 4000 tons,[273] although about nine-tenths of the entire trade was still carried on in the usual craft.[274] Nuttall in 1819, says that there were at that period, about seventy-five steamboats upon the Mississippi and its tributaries, but that owing to the general and unfavorable fluctuation in the commerce of the United States, the number had become greater than their actual employment would warrant.[275] The boats ascending to a point below the Falls were from 300 to 500 tons burthen.[276] Of the 40 boats, built since 1812, 7 had been wrecked, burned, or abandoned, 33 were still plying from place to place, and 28 new ones were building in 1819.[277] From this time on, the boats multiplied very rapidly; 72 were employed in 1821;[278] in 1826 the navigation of the Mississippi and Ohio was carried on in 95 boats;[279] in 1827, 109 steamboats, averaging 170 tons were employed in the trade of these rivers;[280] and in 1829, about 200 boats, whose tonnage may be stated at 35,000 tons, were plying on these rivers.[281] "The following is a list of the steamboats built on the western waters from 1811-1830." _Now Running_ _Lost or Worn Out._ 1811- 1 1814- 4 1815- 3 1816- 2 1817- 9 1818- 25 1819- 27 1820- 7 1 1821- 6 1 1822- 7 2 5 1823- 13 5 8 1824- 13 9 4 1825- 29 26 4 1826- 52 48 4 1827- 25 22 3 1828- 31 29 3 1829- 42 42 Not Known 25 5 20 ----- ---- ---- 321 188 133 "Add to this number 188, 15 boats finished this spring (1830) and now running, and 10 built in the last, and the whole number now running on the western waters will be 213. Of this number 86 were built at Cincinnati." Of the 133 lost or worn out there were