Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-12-21

Ford. peevish Doc Ford! genial Doc
Ford. who could bless you and cuss you
in the same breath, and stand on his
lame leg for an hour telling a story he
did not believe himself, but which he
was satisfied his listeners believed SO
long as the caller for a letter or an ounce
of quinine nodded his head and laughed
at the old doctors humorous points.
DR.. Arson Ford was the first post
master of Butte. The doctor was also
the first professional man in the camp
with M. d.. at the end of his name. AS
postmaster, physician ana pharmacist,
he discharged all these duties with the
junction a mar feels who had little to do
hut remind the placer miners around him
that he represented the federal govern
ment, the constitution and the Ameri-
can eagle; and could sober up a n
miner or one threatened by jim-jams
quicker than any other doctor in the ter
ritory of Montana.
DR.. Ford was appointed postmaster by
President Johnson, early in 1865. The
little log cabin where he weighed out
drugs and distributed from twenty to
forty letters per week was not known as
a postofiice, in the federal Interpretation
of postof1ices at that time. The cabin
stood upon the site of p. J. Brophy's
toA III q II hAol lSoh
postoffice was located in a log building
adjoining the Hotel de Mineral, one Of
the old-time inns of Butte. Its landlord
at that time was John Hauswirth, broth
err of Simon HauSwirth, owner of the
Columbia block on West Broadway. The
hotel stood at the corner of Broadway
and Main tClark's bank corner at this
day., and the site of the first postofiice is
where the Northern Pacific offices are
now located. The front of the log
cabin was framed to give it a dignified
appearance. over the door a white
painted sign bore the legend, Post Of
flee" There are several old timers living
in Butte today who called for their mail
in that log cabin postotfice.
The history of early postofices and
postmasters is incomplete without some
mention of the miners roadside post Of
flee. In the early lays of the west, be-
fore the iron horse became familiar, the
beast that proved mans best friend in
the mountains was used for transporta-
ton of every character. The roadside
postof!ice was nothing more than a soap
box elevated on a pile of rock, like the
capstone of a crude monument. 1t
stood beside the trail. In this rough re-
ceptacle the prospector on the hills
would deposit and receive his mail. Per-
haps the postof1ice was twenty thirty,
fifty miles away. No matter: somebody
mounted on a horse or driving a team
would approach. dismount, open the soap
box postoftice and ascertain the point to
which the letter was directed, east or
west. If the letter was directed east, the
man at the soapboX h was trailing in
that direction, put the letter in his pock-
ct ana deposited it at the first postoffice
on his journey east. The man trailing
west did the very same thing. Love for
the old mother at home made all these
western miners akin. Honor was OF
more value than the gold they sought.
Col. irwin, the present postmaster, says
there is no record of a letter ever being
purloined or lost when these primitive
conditions obtained in the territory.
The arrivals and departure of mails at
the time Doc Ford was postmaster of
Butte was a matter governed entirely by
the conditions of the wagon roads from
Helena and Corinne. In the winter
time, especially, the mails We're as irreg-
ALTAR as the old postmaster's temper.
In 1871. word came from Washington
directing Postmaster Ford to discontinue
the Butte office. The doctor obeyed the
order. Residents of the camp were then
obliged to tramp to Silver Bow or
Highland to obtain mail. Both these
suburbs were then of more consequence
than the greater city in these mountains
at this day.
Disc%ontinuance of the Butte postoffice
proved only a temporary inconvenience
1t was at the time between the
end o. placer mining and ths
beginning of quartz mining. III
a short time the results and industry
of the latter brought to Butte more mai
IN nna waelS than the n1aParS hOaSfa6 O1
in a month. Not long after a letter from
The third assistant postmaster at Wash
ington notified DR.. Ford that he was still
postmaster of Butte. The old man wa!
e,ated. From that hour he took hold o
the work in earnest and remained post
master until 1873, holding Office for
period of twelve years.
w. Egbert Smith succeeded DR.. Ford
as the appointee of President Harrison
and continued in Office until 1886. HI
died in California a few months over
year ago. Patrick Talent came next un
der the first administration of Grove
Cleveland. -Four years later John G
Evans was postmaster, serving unde
Harrison. When Grover Cleveland wa
elected president the second time, h
appointed J.. II. Lynch postmaster
Lynch was the second and last of tn
democratic ~postmasters of Butte, an
served out the four years of. Grove
Cleveland's term. President McKinle
appointed Col. George w. Irwin to sue
coed Mr.. Lynch in 1898, and Col. Irwin
the postmaster of Butte at this day.
Tom Flavin is Postmaster Twins frs
assistant. Tom is one of the best equip
ped men in the federal postal service
When Jehn G. Evans was postmaste'
MIR. Flavin was transferred from tn
postofice at Bismarck, N. D., to Butte i
1891. He has held his responsible pos
ton continuously ever since.
During W. =Egbert Smiths term, tn
pCstcfice was moved from it's quarter
next to the Hotel de Mineral to the sit
on Main street now occupied by the o.
ton Eros, music store. Next it was mo-
ed to the Miners Union hall. Mr.. Lyme