The Portland daily press., 1896-04-15
SOME QUEER MAIL ROUTES.
Some Snowbound Miners Get Their Letters
in the Winter.

(From the San Francisco Post.
Probably the most unique way of trans
porting mails known to the United States
Post Office Department Is that in daily
use between Telluride and Smuggler, Col
The mining town of Telluride is located
at the head of q picturesque guloh. The
mountains rise in majesty to cloud pierre
ing heights about tho town, and from
every precipitous draw between the giant
peaks foaming cascades, waterfalls, and
roaring streams coma down from the
snow laden SUBMITS to swell the torrent
of the San Miguel. which rushes through
the town. Four miles above Telluride is
Marshall Basin, situated among the
snowy peaks and far above the timber
line, and in this basin is the little mining
settlement of Smuggler, where the en-
ployees Of the great Smugglor- Unon and
Tom Boy mines make their homes. AL
though the Inhabitants have a Post Office
of their own, the postal authorities do
not guarantee a regular service because of
the difficulty of keeping trail open in
the winter time. The dangerous snow
slides constantly threaten destruction to
the hardy miners who scramble through
the SHOWS up the steep trails to the settle
ment Marshall Basin in. Until in recent
years all supplies for the camp in Mar
shall Basin were transported thither by
pack animals. Timber for the mines,
coal for the boilers, and iron rails were
dragged over the trails or packed secure
ly about swaying pack saddles and carried
to an elevation of 12, 600 feet by the burro.
When winter closed down and the burro
trains could no longer be driven on sched-
ule time, the miners would take turns in
going down on snowshoes to get the
mails and few necessary supplies that
could be carried upon their backs.
But the practical application of the
endless chain by the inventor of the
Hudson tram has greatly facilitated the
transportation Of supplies from Telluride
up To Marshall Basin. Great iron buck
cts, each carrying down the mountain
half ton OF ore, furnish by their weight
the active power which drives the endless
chains from which they are suspended
In these buckets upon their return, the
necessary supplies for the camp are
placed. One of these buckets is painted
a bright red color and the letters ''U. S.
Mall" in blnck, designated the use to
which it is pur. The daily mail for the
Smuggler Post Office is now delivered as
regularly across the four miles of preoi-
pioe. snow-buried Gulches, and giant
mountain ruggedness with as muchsafety
as between two settlements on the prai-
lies of western Kansas or Nebraska.
A free delivery system is in vogue in
the mining districts, though the postal
authorities have nothing to do with it,
From every mount tain Post Office trails
diverge up every draw and guloh. A
miner setting out for his cabin, perohed
somewhere far up on q mountain, will
take with him all the mail beloning to
his neighbors, though they may live
miles from his place. At each turning
point, small box will be found nailed
securely sto the trunk Of stout old pine
tree, and upon this box is scrawled the
names of all miners who must pass that
tree in going TO their respective cabins
In the boz the last man from town de-
posits all the mail belonging to miners
living up that particular gulch. From
that gulch a miner will occasionally de-
scend for mail and as he returns up his
trail heIdeposits in turn the several pieces
of mail in other boxes placed at oonven-
lent points. In this manner one man
can save many weary step to other