We the undersigned Citizens of Hillsborough County State of Florida, Do petition your Honorable body, that the Mail Route now in operation from Palatka, to Tampa Bay, may be continued on to Manta River, in said County. There is a large settlement on the River, numbering about one hundred whites, and from three to four hundred blacks, The settlement is increasing rapidly, and we all feel very much the want of communication by mail. The Post Office, at Tampa Bay is the nearest to us, it being forty miles by water and fifty by land. Therefore, we your petitioners do anxiously request your Honorable Bodies to take into consideration our isolated situation and grant us the above request. We would further suggest that the route by water is the most practicable—being the nearest, and the land route would be impassible for about two months in the year on account of heavy rains, Freshets &c.