Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1895-10-10
DIFFICULT MAIL CARRYING.
An Interesting Branch of the United
States Postal Service.

who have not been in the far west can
have any real idea of the manner of
delivering the mails to the frontier
mining camps in midwinter, or of how
late the snow lasts on some slopes and
valleys. No one needs be told that
carrying the mail over the Rocky noun
tain ranges, When the snow is five feet
deep on the level and fifteen feet deep
, In drifts, is a most perilous undertake
ing.
1.-The mountain mail carriers" said
MI. John Palmer, an engineer in a
Montana mine, visiting his home in
New York city, are n race of athletes.
No man, unless he had an iron consti-
tuition, could endure the exposures and
hardships of climbing the mountain
peaks loaded down with a heavy mail
sack. This has been a severe winter
for these mountain carriers, and sew
eral poor fellows have lost their lives
in the service.
The people who live in the frontier
: mining camps of Colorado, Idaho,
Utah and Montana have Deer showed
in for the past three months. They
are as much out of civilization as If
they lived in Alaska. Nevertheless,
these people want their letters and pa.
pers the same as 10 the people of our
towns and cities. The post office de-
partment is enterprising, and it under,
takes to give them an irregular mail
service.
This branch of the postal service is
called the 'snowshoe mail, because the
mountain carriers travel on snowshoes.
There are forty or fifty of these mail
carriers, who are not afraid to brave
the dangers. 1t is no easy task to climb
the steep mountain sides in summer
time, but how much more difficult in
snowy weather, when the trails are
obscure and misleading, when the snow
is four and five feet deep on the level,
the thermometer is below the
zero mark, when the snow and ice cover
dangerous places, when a misstep
would send the carrier over the preci.
piceI
of course the mountain mail car.
Tiers take their lives in their hands
every hoEr of their Journey. The first
thing they do is to provide themselves
with good warm underwear and cloth
ing. some of them buy silk under
garments, stockings and gloves. Their
clothing may look rough, but it il
strong and comfortable.
Tx a4CoIiLd1Il1 Ild11 CdINttT IL
ready to start on his perilous Journey,
there is usually a group of friends and
acquaintance to give him a 'send-o1f.
Some of the people have verbal mes
sages for him to deliver.
""Take good care OF yourself, jim,
says one friend.
Hope you have q good time,' says
another, half jokingly.
s. srNa1l Al T-,oo J,IJ = -
spring. exclaims a third Individual,
"With these and other messages
ringing in his ears the carrier on snow.
shoes starts on his journey oven the
mountains. He has the mail sack,
usually a No. 4 size, strapped to his
back. He also carries a long guiding
pole. The wonder to me is how these
mail carriers ever find their way over
the ranges, and how they manage to
keep on the right trails. Yet some OF
them know the peaks and passes just
as Familiarity as the city carriers know
the streets and houses.
Tho critical period of the Journey
comes during a snowstorm. Then the
carrier is liable to lose the trail, but
with compass in hand he gets his bear
ings. All day long the travelling is
= CAON oLo bSNiiouS, VIZ DIV tI1lltS Ill
man is almost ready to sink down ex-
hausted. Night comes on, and the
heavy weight of the mail sack begins
to tell on his strength. His safety lies
in finding shelter in some friendly
cleft in the rocks. The mercury is
down, perhaps, to ten degrees below
zero. Uusually he will dig a bed in
the snow, but he is afraid often to fall
asleep, lest he never wake up on the
morrow.
"And SO. day after day, the snow
shoe mail carrier picks his way over
the mountain ranges. He must be as
sure-footed and agile as a chamois
hunter. He must have steady and
strong nerves. He must be watchful,
cautious and careful every minute OF
The day and night. Danger turks on
every side of him.
when the snow is covered with a
hard crust the carrier finds travelling
much easier. You should see an old, ex-
perienced carrier slide down the
mountain side on his snowshoes. 1t is
like a toboggan slide. Faster and
faster the carrier rushes along, until
he reaches the bottom, where he
tumbles, heels over head, into the
snow bank. 1t looks easy to glide down
on the snow crust, but unless you have
had experience you don't want to try
it. Those who know how to make the
trip say that the shoot down the
mountain on snowshoes is as bracing as
a cocktail, and just as stimulating.
FINALLY, after many hairbreadth es,
capes and exciting experiences, the
carrier comes in sight of the camp
There are times, as a mail carrier once
TOLD me, when he'd rather see the
smoke n houses of the camp than
fall against a gold mine. For the
camp will do for a man what all the
gold mines in Montana couldn't do
and that is give warmth, food and
drink You can imagine the feelings
Of the mail carrier when he is once
more indoors by a blazing fire.
Meanwhile the people of the camp
have looked for the arrival Of the mai
carrier, and as day after day passe:
predictions are made at the post office
concerning his probable fate. It doe.
not take long for the news of his COM
ing to travel through the camp. Nc
visitor could be more enthusiastically
received or more welcome than thu
snowshoe carrier. For he brings new
from the great outside world; letters
from home, mother or father, from
brother, sister and sweetheart. IN. Y
journal.
Adam Smith, the author Of the
wealth Of Nations" regarded hi
book with the genuine love Of IN au
ehor. He was often seen yeadin9 4
nth hppsxept satis9actiQnr I'D;