Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1874-03-06
An HOUR IN 4 POSTAL CAR.

During the recent storm.-a CORES
pendent OF the Truckee Rcpubttcan
| spent thirteen hours in the SNOW drifts
about the head of Blue Canyon, on the
Central Pacific Railroad. OF course,
the train and numerous passengers
were With him. Having 'done" every
incident and object OF interest connect
ed with the delay i'll graph" style for
the Republican, he next gives his at
tention TO the postal car, in the follow
inc interesting manner:
IN open window III a mail car. and
the glimpse of Il couple of goOd-na-
tured ~gen5lenianIv faces within. proves
too tempting 70 lie Resisted. We were
in search OF information. and obtained
many items regarding the postal ser
vice that may be Interesting 10 other
beside ourselves.
The faces were those of NJ. +. Quinn
by and John Brolie. They distribute.
on an average. 10000 letters Il month.
on the last trip, Mr.. Quiinby received
al Ogden betW cen 5000 and 10000 let
terS. and 52O bushels of papers. Dur
ing the first hour they sort out the mail
for Montana and Il part of Utah. and
leave it al Corinne. Three hours brings
them To kclton, where they leave the
mail for Idaho and a part of Washing
ton Territory and Oregon. Fresh in
voices OF letters and papers are con
>tantly arriving as the train pas e. ST.
tion>.andthe packaseSare be.ngaS COLI
>tanIly delivered IA their respective
destinations. In the $50 miles there are
- mail stations. Besides attending to
these. packages must be formed for
every city. town and village on the Pa
citic Coast where letters happen To be
directed. Going east, packages must
he prepared tor fifty Important
cities in different parts of the
Union, and for every city. town and
village i'll kentucky. Tennessee. Ala
balna. Virginia, North Carolina. South
Carolina. Georgia. Florida, Maryland.
District of Columbia and the Provinces.
\ slip placed IN each package shows
the state, county and town to which it
is to 20. and the particular line OF rail-
road that is to carry il. together with
the name of the clerk. the date. and
the line OF railroad from which it j.
ant Any error the Postal Clerk may
make in placing the letters in packages
will lie noted on the slip and charged
against the clerk. As an instance Of
the c%arefulnc>s and fidelity which they
manifest, Mr.. Quimby in six months
has sent over two hundred and tor'v
thousand letters, and has made only
thirtv-four mistakes.
Every letter sent from the Pacific
Coast must be handled in the mail car.
except those from San Francisco 10 the
cities of New York and Detroit. People
should be careful 10 place the counv
on the address, because the Postal
Clerks must Otherwise hunt it np.
Mistakes often occur i'll this way. The
name of the OWL may be applied to
towns in many States. and the am
name to many counties in different
Safes; hence if the county and state
are both left out, it is a mere matter of
conjecture where the letter is To go.
The registered letters cause the great
est trouble and responsibility. OF
these there are from two to tOur hun
dred each trip. An account nus be
kept OF Were each Is to go. OF the
dates of reception and delivery. and
receipts must be given and received
upon their reception and delivery.
Every conceivable article. from a
! 81 le-Saddle To a cooking-stove. is sent
! by mail. and any II mol we'll informed
on the subject will be repaid by III
iillhS the peculiar packages that the
Postal Clerks must handle. They are
on duty night and day, on at least one
must be constantly at work. The extra
work which PostnaSters have to per-
form When the mail arrives. is their
usual labor. for mails are continually
arriving. People utterly fail to appre-
riate the labor, time and expense there
Is bestowed i'll bringing their letters, or
to give due credit To these faiFbful in