Red "STEAM" Straightline on Stampless Cover with Manuscript "20" to Little Valley, N.Y.

Folded letter to Little Valley, New York, carried by steamboat and marked manuscript "20" due for double-rate postage over 300 miles.

It likely entered the mails in Stonington, Connecticut, where the "STEAM" marking was applied. The steamboat captain was paid 2 cents, and the cover was placed in a mail bag and carried overland across the state to southwestern New York before being delivered to Little Valley, a land-locked town. The envelope shows signs of a thick or heavy enclosure.