The weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1878-1881, 1881-06-28
KILOGRAMS
STAR ROUTES.
Glance at Some Of the Famous
Frauds Therein.

and classification of evide &c upon which 10
base the prosecu ton of the dishonest sta"
route contractors and their contederates i'll Of
flee has been continued quietly, but slowly
during the week. The force employed is
small but excellent progress las ueen made.
Evidence is coming in from all parts of the
country aud the investigators havei heir atten-
ton caliedevery day to hitherto unknown cases
\ of fraud. AT The same time the postmaster
general and second assistant Elmer. have con-
Z tinued the application of Omtnoi sense meth
4 DDS aud business principles to The existing
\ fraudulent star service and The Incomes OF
D ring tavoriies are continually becomjng beau
4 tifully less. Reports made by honest special
! agents are now coming in every day and much
I useless and fraudulent service has been mark
d ed for discontllulance. Action upon these
Gases is not taken until aiter the exhaustive
examination. and the conclusion OF arguments
1 on both sides. The department proposes to
be sure it is right before it ''goes ahead" AT
the same time, methods which have prevailed
in the department allotment Of clerical work,
location of divisions and many otheI details
have been closely examined by the commits
sion, whose purpose is to introduce proper
business methods and r~eorganiZe the work
ing force in the most efficient manner of
which the circumstances allow. The results
of the labors of the investigators and eXamln-
ers of fraudulent and useless service and i'll
Sp!clOFS Oh lnlefDdl eCDIlOuN VI II uepdlI-
ment cannot fail to be of incalcuable advant-
age.
Some one tells the story of another Sails
bury route in which he says the records show
that in this case, as in many Others, Sail bury
was not troubled with the little fO1mality OF
advertising each route once every four years
and letting it under the condition of the route
as advertised. These proceedings made but
little difference to them. In 1873 Gilmer Il
Salisbury We're carrying mails on the route
from rankin to keltOn. AS they are. the
annual pay was $4,000, more than SIS per
mile for one trip a week. The distance was
$50 miles, and the service seven trips per
week. In the list of bidders appears several
persons who then represented the Salisbury
combination, but who did not appear i'll the
same way. Sanlerson, OF the Barlow com
bination. would do the work for $l3o 900.
Salisbury would take it for 100000, but San
derson's man HunLley could do it for $63,OOO,
and Salisbury's man White could do it all the
way down from $3.50 to $4,000. This
was certainly remarkable. The Mormons
put in a bid of $43 900. Jackson was given
the contract for a term of fou" ears from July
LIST, 1874. His principals probably Condemn
ed the work Oh the route for four months,
Their pay was reduced by result of a%nvertis-
ing from 81, 800 per annum to only $4,000.
At the end of -four months they availed them
selves Of the old plan. Jackson was allowed
to fail, and was declared a falli:g
contractor, because, as was said, he tailed on
December II, 1874, but before that time Gil
mer " Salisbury had got in one and one-half
months service at S6S,500. The department
went up the list of bidders and c uld iiud no
one who you'd stand by his bid until d. Par
ker WAS reached. His bid had been $64 800,
and it was handed over to him at that price,
although it had originally been let for Sl5,-
900. Parker was the highest bidder, con-
trolled by Salisbury. and his add css was in
care of Gilmer Il salisbury. For the last few
years the Parkers have ruled Il combination
Of their own. Parker or Salisbury had a
route at S64, 800 until July l>t, 1878, the end
OF the term. JacKSOnS pay mas been $780,
900. Parker mast have been al Last S22o,-
900. Then for some reason the route was
not advertised for the term from 1850 1882,
until three months after the proper time, so
that a new contractor could not be given
work until Oct. 1st, 1878, instead of July LIST,
1878. This let a gap of three months, which
was filled by employing Gilmer 4 Salisbury
for that time at a pay of $4,000. We have
now reached the beginning of the current
contract term of 1STS-S2. The result of the
advertisement is given in bids as follows:
Route AZ, l22, Franklin TO Helena, distance
4l3 miles. Service. seven trips per week.
Time schedule, seventy-iive hours in summer
and 80 hours in winter, or 81 miles and y
per hour; and 200 hours for third class matter.
There were eleven bidders o. }. Salisbury,
$1,000; u. s. Huntley, 49,4OO; G. W. Ben
nett, 81, 1000: W. NJ. Griffith, SAB 800; H. NJ.
Morton, $3S,SS0; q. W. Parker, $3S, $50; w.
NJ. Wilson. S3S,0OO: Joseph Evans, So $1,000;
r. H. Williams, $4,000; E. j. Travis, $751;
900; j. W. Travis, $4,000, for four years.
Before the Barlow party had put in the high
est bid low Salisbury Outranked them all,
r1,ln 49, .-- T.-r;a- L..
were at the foot. The Barlow party was sec
ond; keren's party, a new one, backed by
active politicians, third. On July Sd, 1878,
Travis was given the contract. His principals
continued the service until Oct. LIST, 1878,
then he became contract"r. on pager at least.
Of course he "failed." as jackson had failed
before him.. Travis downfall. according to
the books, occurred ON March 18th, 1879.
Brady went up the list, and it is supposed
that circulars were sent 10 bidders. They de-
clined Or refused to reply at all until Sails
bury, the very highest man, was reached. The
arrangement by means of which Huntley and
Griffith and partner Ware induced to take
the contract is no. described on the books.
Griffith IS the only one who made any sort OF
offer. He would take the route at S43, 800 if
Brady would give him time for the necessary
preparation and he would begin service as
soon as practicable. loving to the proba-
DIE opposition oil second parties TO The con-
tract with the present service he added, Z" it
may require more than an ordinary length of
time 1t is not necessary to state that Crit
fifth did not get I'll e route. There was a gap
of SAT, 900 between the Barlow and Salisbury
bids and Brady apparently did not feel like
jumping it and accepted Salisbury's offer.
just then Levi L.. Blake came along with an
offer to do the work for $4,000, and it was
accepted. Blake was another representative
OF Salisbury, who was one of his bondsmen.
Blake's term began April l, 1879, but it was
very soon discovered that be mad once been
used as Travis and Jackson had been used, and
had once been declared a failing contractor.
This disqualified him, and Brady gave the
contract to his bOndsmen Monroe Salisbury