The Territory of Washington was incorporated on March 2, 1853, and at that time, the village of Seattle consisted of a church, a brothel, two blockhouses, and a log post office. Mail at that time had to be sent on bimonthly steamship that sailed from San Francisco, to Astoria, Oregon, and then make its way to Seattle. This ledger sheet carefully records the mailed items received in Seattle between August 27 and October 10, 1853, noting the originating cities such as Salem and Sauvie Island in Oregon Territory, and San Francisco. The ledger sheet also tallies up the stamp costs that brought the mail to Seattle. This ledger begins the day that Postmaster and pioneer Arthur A. Denny (1822-1899) received the first United States Mail ever delivered in Seattle.

Caption information source: "How the Post Office Created America," by Winifred Gallagher, p. 123, Penguin Books, 2017. Caption informtion source: "History of the Seattle General Postoffice," by Nicholas C. Cullina, (pp. 211-217), at https://journals.lib.washington.edu/index.php/WHQ/article/viewFile/7028/6065 Caption information source: "Seattle Beginnings: first Seattle Post Office opens on October 12, 1852," by Greg Lange, HistoryLink.org Essay 384.

• Subjects (LCTGM): ; Postal service--Washington Territory; Post offices--Washington Territory
• People: Denny, Arthur Armstrong, 1822-1899