The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1889-04-20
An Appeal for Increased llail Service.

An Appeal Tor Increased 0Au Service
An active move has been made
by the citizens of Custer county,
comprising the towns Of Challis,
Bayhorse, Clayton, Bonanza and
Custer, for increased and more
efectual mail service than they now
have. The Challis Messenger OF
the 9th lent. says:
Caster county has . mail service now
OF six times a week bet ween BlAckro0t
and Chsliis and between Challis, Bay
horse Custer and Bonanza, and tri-
weekly between Bayhorse ami Clayton
and in the summer months six times q
week mail between Ketehum and Dlckay.
This service is not adequate aad petitions
are being circulated IN every town ia
Custer county, and universally signed,
praying the postOfiice department to in.
crease the service on these routes to seven
times q week, aud as reasons the potion
ers set forth the facts: ..that Custer
county contains large aud intellectual
population engaged in mining, farming
and stockraising, and that the present
mail service is not commensurate with
their business and social requirements"
A petition has also been forwarded to the
department praying tor the establishment
of daily service between Ketchum and
Clayton.
The KEYSTONE is in full sympa-
thy with it's Custer county friends
in their efforts to obtain better and
increased mail facilities. All who
are familiar with the different routes
mentioned by the Messenger are
aware that there is some irregular
ity in the manner the department
has applied service upon them.
The reason why our Ketchum
people are in the enjoyment of
only a SUMNER, instead of six
times-a-week, mail service the
year round over the Ketchum-
Dickey route to different points in
the Salmon River country, was
fully explained in the KEYSTONE of
the 29th of December last, making
it unnecessary at this time to re-
iterate the indisputable facts which
brought about the unfortunate con-
dition of affairs that now exist in
the mail service over this route.
Referring to the subject of mail
service, it will certainly not be
denied that the distance between
ketchum-the terminus of the
Wood River branch railroads.
from rs to 80 miles shorter to the
Custer county towns than the Black
foot route. In a practical point of
view it would have been better for
the petitioners of Custer county, as
also of Ketchum, who are DESTROYS
ofexpeditious mail communication,
to have urged upon the postoffice de-
partment the necessity Of immedi-
ately establishing a daily mail route
direct from Ketchum to Challis,
and from the last named point es-
tablish daily mail service diverging
to Bayhorse and Clayton on one
route and to Custer and Bonanza
on another. The Blackfoot route
is only operated upon schedule of
six times week during the spring
and summer months; the balance
of the season it is tri-weekly.
The establishment Of a daily mail
service all the year round from
Ketchum would virtually do away
with the long and tedious Black
foot route, except as a tri-weekly
to accommodate the settlements
along Lost River to Dickey. A
mail route as above suggested, viz:
Ketchum-C hallis, we believe would
be more conducive to the needs of
the people of the Salmon River
country, and be conducted with
greater dispatch, than the present
mail facilities, which, to say the
least, are considerably mixed.