In the late 1850s, before telegraph lines or intercontinental railroads had been built, communication between the Mississippi River states and the Pacific coast moved by handwritten paperwork carried across vast prairies, mountains, canyons, and deserts at the speed of a horse-and-rider or wagon, usually 15 to 20 miles a day. By 1859, the United States Post Office demanded faster service across the Great Plains, requiring letters leaving Independence, Missouri, to reach Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 15 to 20 days, or about 45 miles a day. To meet that need, Hall & Porter established a relay station here in August 1859, but within weeks hostile Kiowas killed two employees, bringing the 1st Cavalry to investigate and remain. From October 1859 until the post closed in 1878, Fort Larned's most vital regular mission was keeping communications flowing from East to West, and soldiers there spent many weeks each year escorting the mail on the Santa Fe Trail. In 1868, Fort Larned post surgeon Captain William Forwood wrote that the cavalry company was used entirely to escort the mails between the post and Fort Dodge, 55 miles west, and Fort Zarah, 33 miles east, with mail arriving and departing twice a week.