Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1881-05-20
NO. A..

| SttLluS III lIl6 us
received from Eugenia City to Mitchell,
! and is to the name of j. NJ. Peck,
l brother-in-law of S. W. Dorsey. The
"looking-giass" route referred to so fire.
l quently in the above dispatches,
! MAS "EXPEDTTED" UNDER DoRsEY's MAN
AGEMENT
from 81 800 to S13,775 a year. The
! next question was to get the route in
; Washington Territory expedited" !"
This was the route from Waliula to
i Pleasant Grove on the Upper Yake-
mema. Under direction from Dorsey,
t Wilcox went to Walla Walla on an er-
land similar to that which he had per-
) formed at Eugene City, where Dorsey
telegraphed him:
WASHINGTON, June TO- 1S79.-To F..
X. Wilcor, lVaH,tld: Have you done
anything with Wallula and Pleasant
Grove routes9 Answer.
To this Wilcox returned the follow
, ing:
| WALLULa, w. T., June 10, 1S79.-To
, the Hon. S. W. Dorsey, No. 1121 I street
: Washington, ID. c.: Have been over
routes from Wallula to Pleasant Grove,
Your figures impossible to get. Solid
bid $500 for two trips, $4,000 for
thre trips. $11 900 for six trips, $l5 900
for seven trips. What shall do?
+. X. WILCOX.
To this answer the following was re-
turned:
WASHINGTON, ID. c., June IL, 1879
+. r lViicox: You may give eighteen
hundred one trip, five thousand three
trips, S,400 six trips, nine thousand
seven trips. S. w. DORSEY.
WILCOX REPLIED ON THE SAME DAY:
Your figures impossible. Mine of
yesterday lowest l can get. Contract
was closed at $11 900 for six trips.
Though Dorsey telegraphed Wilcox
he was only interested in the Bridge
Creek and Looking Glass routes
IN Oregon, the statement is probably
to be understood only as notice to
Wilcox that these were the only routes
that he (Wilcox) was to work upon, for
the greatest swindle of all is in the route
from Dalles to Baker City, via Canon
City, which stands also in the name of
j. Nj. Peck, Dorsey's brother-in law.
Already there was route from Dalles
to Baker City, Pendleton, and Lag
range, or
i PARALLEL WITH THIS ONE,
which carried and still carries all the
mails between the two points. This
route fir M Dalles to Baker City, via
Canon City, was, however, under man.
lpulatlons of the ring, increased to serv-
ice ofsix times week, which is wholly
unnecessary, and the pay was laised
from $8,2SS to $40, ,520 j. Nj. Peck
also has another expedited route-viz.:
from Canon City to Camp McDermott,
most of the way through a coun-
try without population and in
capable Of sustaining any. This
route was expedited from 50 1888 to 49,
766. }. w. Dorsey, brother of S. w.
Dorsey, has q contract on the route
from Dalles to Lake View, in southern
Oregon, which route also was expedited
from $3,OSS to $4,000. 1t is probable,
therefore. that Wilcox had charge of
only small part of the business of the
Dorsey ring in Oregon.
THE "oREGoNIAN"
of tom orrow will say of the develop
ments in the star route frauds: eek
Senator Dorsey will hardly ask the
postmaster-general now to write let
ter exonelating him. George A.
Steele, who has been nominated for the
postmastership of Portland, was special
agent of the postoffice department for
Oregon, Washington, and Idaho at the
time when the star service was so large
| ly expedited" and the pay on many
routes so immensely and fraudulently
1 InnrnoSn1 II Ill IL
transactions as he had his attention
called to them, and especially to the
route from Dalles to Baker City,
via Canon City, which route was ex-
pedited from $9,283. 1t would be
pertinent inquiry to learn what was the
nature of his reports to the department
on these routes and what rec
ommendation he made Did he help
contractors to work up these routes
| and get their enormous increase of
pay or did he expose its iniquities to
the department Just now, since he
expects to be postmaster of Portland,
these are pertinent inquiries. We
venture the opinion, and that without
special hazard, that as post official he
| threw no obstacles in the way Of ex-
pedlting contr actors.
THE SUIT BEGUN AT DENVER
tor the reson that plaintiff was able to
get service on Dorsey there. Wilcox
is still in Oregon. The attorney who
sent the claim from Portland to Den
yer to be sued is ]. X. Woodward, for
merly county judge of this (Multna-
may county.
The following are four specimen
routes of the Oregon ring, run by Dor
sey:
Route No. $3.50, from Dalles to
Raker City, raised from $8.288 to $72,-
$40; contract awarded to John M. Peck,
of the Dorsey combination, March Is,
1873; sub-contract transferred to II. NJ.
Vail, another contractor identified with
| the Dorsey interest, and the route at
once began to undergo development.
| The government has thus far paid to
the contractor, since July ], 1873,
S15O,9O0, although the route was let at
| S,2SS per year. There were petitions,
of course, upon which to base the action
that was taken by Brady. The most
earnest advocate of increase and ex-
pedition was Sen. Mitchell, of Oregon,
and one or two petitions were endorsed
by Sen. Slater. 1t was shown that the
net annual revenue of intermediate Of
fees was only 81, +, 123, but in spite of this
the number of trips was increased and
the running time reduced at an annual
expense of $64, ,232.
Route No. Al, 40. from Eugene City
to Bridge Creek, raised from 81, ,468 to
S21 ,6O3; contract awarded to ]. NJ.
Peck and sub-let to P. ]. Wyckof for
$2,700. His sub contract is one Of the
few on file, and shows that he received
only 81 400, leaving more than 1000 |
annual profit to the contractor. By
means of this sub-contract the depart |
ment don't know how much the service
cost. Government mas paid the |
contractor about $40, 900 on this route,
up to date, in less than three years.
| Route No. AZ 1f0 from Carson City