The undersigned, your petitioners would respectfully to your Hon. Boddy, that, that portion of the state of Iowa laying south west of the Desmoines River, and a portion of the north East corner of the state of Missouri are almost entirely destitute of Mail and Post office facilities, and that some portions of these sections of our Country are now densely inhabited and other portions are fast filling up with an industrious, enterprising, and inteligent population, and that Nature has wisely adapted these sections of Our beautifull Country to a cheep and rapid transmission of Inteligence owing to the evenness of the face of the Country dryness of the roads and there being no considerable streems to cross, They (the streems) running parallel with the main thoroughfares of the Country. We would further represent to your Hon. Boddy, that Owing to the lack of mail and Post Office facilities, we are longer recieveing Inteligence on a line parallel with, and south west of the Desmoines a distance of thirty miles than we are from some of the most distant

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sections of the Union. For these causes and others that we will assign, we pray your Hon. Boddy to pass a Law, providing for a mail rout, from Alexandria, cituated at the confluence of the Mississippi and Desmoines Rivers in the state of Mo. to Fort Desmoines cituated at the junction of the Raccoon fork and the Desmoines fork of the Desmoines River by the way of Wood^’s mill in Vanburen Co. To [Hoy?] Post Office, Bloomfield Drakesville Davis Co. To Princeton Knoxville to Fort Desmoines the end of the rout, to be transported once a week both ways. Your petioners would further represent that all the Citizens of the south west side of the Desmones in the state of Iowa and a large portion of those of northern Missouri would receive Inteligence much moore direct and at a muc[h?] earlier date by this rout than any rout now authorized by Law, for these obvious reasons, The Mississippi River the main Channel through which most of the Eastern and southern News is ^derived^ these sections of the Country remain open, free from ice and in a condition to pass boats most all of every winter below the Desmoines rapids in the Mississippi River while above the rapids the River remains frozen over from three to four months in every winter and in the summer season when the water is

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low, so low, that Boats cannot pass the rapids. They cause delay in the Transmission of news. Another reason is, that this rout prayed for is free from any obstructions in the way of impassable streems, while on the other hand, the rout through which we now derive our news, is obstructed by the Desmoines Rapids, ice in the winter Inteligence gets to Burlington and there meets with delay on account of the arrangement of the mail, delayed at various points along the way from this last mentioned cause. Obstructed with bad roads across low wet, flat parairies and impassable streems on account of high water and ice except at particular seasons of the year. For these causes and many others that might be assigned we pray your Hon. Boddy to provide by Law for the afore mentioned mail rout, for which favor we will ever pray and be greatfull