Evening star., 1897-02-27

| scandal that ever
| olackened the pages of postal history the
| star route trials" 1t has no astronomical
| significance. however. as its name might
| indicate. although it is said that a route
was once established from the Pole to
North Star. and afterward, North Star bav-
| ing been discontinued, it was curtailed to
end at White Cloud.
1t comprehends all mail service perform
ed under contract. except that of rail-
way ana steamboat service and, of course.
that service IN cities called covered wagon,
screen wagon and street car service: and is
designated generally star service" 1t
is performed by carriers on stage coach
lines. or horse back. on snow shoes. and
with dogs and SledgeS. There Is now On
exhibition in the Post Office Department
Museum the wax figure of northerner
and three dogs. mounted harnessed and
nltcheu to Sledge, with. mail pouch ON
1t, representing the outfit as it appeared
when performing regular star service in
| northern Michigan.
"Ccrtninty, Celebrity and Security
| The contracts for star service state that
| II must be performed with certainty, oe-
| ierty and security and the contractors
| are required to. as Eearly as possible keen
| the service up to this high standard. 1t is
\ very remarkable what heavy loads can be
i
be made on snow shoes 1t has been re-
ported. or good authority. that an expert
| snow shoer can carry eighty pounds of mail
ana attain speed of thirty miles an hour
! gong down slight general down grade.
Prior to 1915 it was the practice of the
department in accepting bids for the trans
| portation of inland mails on other than
railroad and steamboat routes to have re-
| gard. in some cases. to the mode of trans
| portaton, preference being given to bid
GERS GERS VINO proposed stage or coach service.
The act OF Congress of March g. 1S4J abol-
| ished this and directed the Postmaster Cen
| eial to let all future contracts for the
| transportation of mail to the lowest bidder
rendering sufficient guarantees for the
| faithful performance of the service with
out reference to the mode of conveyance,
| except that it be with certainty, celerty
| and security" The clerks in the contract
| division, to distinguish such bids from
| steamboat and other bids designated them
| On the route registers by three stars or
! asterisks. and they came to be called star
bids. From this grew the present custom
| OF placing three groups of four stars each
near the top of the first page of the con-
tracts for star, service, hence the appeila-
| :ion star route" which has been given
this service since 1883. The first official
reference to the service under this name
! vas in the Postmaster Generals report of
1859. and the first appropriation for the
service under the new name was made in
1879.
Difficult Transportation.
L uS AAdia SSISlEt Ou star ROUTES IS some
times, though rarely. performed in q boat
on river or across a small lake. This
was done in early days much more than
now, because the roads through the coun-
try were impossible and the streams had
to be followed. A very amusing incident
occurred when the mail was being carried
| in an open boat on the Ohio river away
| back in the early thirties. Complaint had
been made to the department officials that
the carrier did not keep the mail covered;
that by frequent rains during his trips the
pouches became water soaked In the bot
| tom of the boat and the mail ruined. He
was reprimanded for such neglect of duty.
and to remedy the trouble department
official sagely asked him: why not adopt
the postmasters suggestion of boring holes
in the bottom of the boat to let off the
water SO that it will not be soaked up by
letters and newSpaperS?' '
The star service can truly be called
pioneer mail service. for 1t Is the first to
blaze ttS way into new country, and Is an
important factor in the development OF
that country. Just as soon as a few peo-
pie settle in a newly opened territory they
ask for mail service, ard with this I'M
provement comes more settlers, passenger
and freight transportation increased land
sales and general development all along the
line People must communicate with each
other and with their distant friends,
and II some means OF communfcaA
tion is not furnished them where they set
tie they will soon seek a location where It
routes reach FAR into mountain Businesses
and across arid plains. In some places the
carrier climbs over cliffs. descends through
gorges and ferries across. streams where It
would seem impossible to one unaccustomed
to such a life. There are localities even
now in some of the western states and ter
ritories where the mail carrier risks his life
on every trip he makes. If he rides or
drives. bat few feet or possibly inches.
to one side or the other Of the path or road
ne is liable to go over precfpfce and be
r1a2 hnpnA cho
to an awful death in an almost botteniess
canyon, or a roaring mountain torrent. IT
he happens to meet a hostile band of ma
rauding Indians. or a party Of road
agents.. as certain mountain robbers are
called. his chances for seeing home and
loved ones ARE exceedingly SLIM
Many Dangers.
There are places where mountain gorges,
hundreds of feet deep, are filled with ever
lasting snow. The top of this snow is
frozen and the carrier must cross in the
early part of the day or not at all, for6if
the sun shines the snow begins to, get soft
ana the way impossible by afternoon.
However, there oare,, few casualties COM
pared with the number engaged in the star
service. for there are nearly Il 600 routes,
embracing 262, ,575 miles of service, costing
five and one-half millions of dollars anIu-
ally. Each of these routes requires one or
more carriers. So 1t Isl safe to say that the
o. e equal
or exceed the number, of men in our stand
Ing army. There aren some interesting In
| stances where Wnmeh have performed the
| service on these routes for the past fifteen
or twenty years. r
The longest star route now in existence
| is between Juneau and Circle City. Alaska.
900 miles. with service six times year.
The longest one. ever in existence was the
pony express, line, from Saint Joseph,
Mo- to San Francisco, Cal, 800 miles es-
tablished In 1885, Relays Of Indian ponies
were stationed along the line five miles
apart, and In this way the riders were en-
! abled to make an average speed Of twelve
miles an hour. That was our frontier fast
| mall.
In the early part of the present century
| the United States mail found Its way over
| mountains ard through dales. along COR
dsroy roads and across pontoon bridges.
conveyed on the back OF an ancient mule,
IN an OK cart. or In the spacious pockets of
an enterprtsing planter. Now and then GER
1 tam advanced communities boasted q stage
| line. equipped with those ,old-fashioned
| stage coaches that have shaken the bones
ana lacerated the flesh of many o. weary
| transient.
! Stnges That Beat Railroads.
AS our country developed the mail service
which was later to be known as star SER