Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1903-06-24
TEN DOLLARS A LETTER.
High Rate ON Private. Postal Route
from Cooks Inlet to Nome.

= : &
from Cooks Inlet to Nome.
Through snow and ice, 1900 miles
Is the trip of an Alaskan mail car
rier.''
w. V. Sullivan, son of Former Sen
ator Sullivan, Of Mississippi, made this
statement, according to the st. Louis
Republic. Mr.. Sullivan had just re-
turned from a two years cruise in
Alaska waters on board the United
States revenue cutter Rush.
This trip" he continued, ''is from
Cooks Inlet to Nome, and by the route
travelled is 1900 miles.
''The last boat leaves Nome about
Nov. and it carries down a mighty
precious cargo-gOld dust, discouraged,
miners, escaping wives, the soubrettes
who come up in the spring, marry the
successful prospectorS and then de-
sert when the winter shuts up the
town from the rest of the world ana
the last mail sack Uncle Sam brings
through the Aletian Islands for six
months.
Then, while you people down here
in the big cities are squabbling for L
cent local postage the men up in Nome
are getting ready to pay the heaviest
postal rate in the world. By Dec. 20
they've got the Christmas hunger for
home news and New Years day they'd
give a side Of bacon for a sight Of ia
miliar handwriting ON an envelope.
Bacon is still about so cents slice in
the eating houses.
But just about Jan. 1 the midwin-
ter Alaskan mail starts north from
Seattle. 1t is carried up by the owner
and operator of the enterprise, who
runs a private mail service not recog-
nized or promoted by the United States
government. He collects letters from
Seattle to Cooks Inlet, making the
trip on any vessel that is scheduled to
stop at Sitka, Douglas Island, Juneau
and all the points Of any Importance
along the coast.
"Only letters are carried and these
must be written on onion skin paper,
for bulk is the chief consideration,
and, besides the rate is SO much
pennyweight.
when Cooks Inlet is reached the
letters are packed in tin boxes made
to conform to the carriers body and
fit into the lining Of his coat. The
carriers costume, from the fur cap to
the Mozinski boots, is exactly like that
of the EskimOs, and the principal items
in this outfit are matches, gun and am
munitiOn.
'From Cooks Inlet to Nome the
trail runs 1900 miles and touches no
mans hut OR dugout. The carrier can
make forty miles a day on snowshoes.
He has studied the country so thor
oughly that he knows when he shoots
a bird and cooks it for dinner Tuesday,
over a fire Of scrubby brush, where,
fifty miles ahead, he can find more
game and fuel for the cooking Of We'd
nesdays supper. After supper he
crawls into a fur sleeping bag, drop
ping off into a coy snowbank for a
sIlooze through the darkest hours of
the long night.
"The greatest obstacle are the tor
rents that flow too rapidly to freeze.
The crossings are made at the narrow
est places and the carrier strips, makes
a bundle of his clothes, throws it
across or carries it on his head, and,
wading and swimming, he reaches the
opposite shore and scrambles into his
furs.
foy.
tune, for the thinnest letter taken on
the route costs the sender $40. Usual
ly but one trip is made each winter,
but last season he broke the record by
making two rounds, doing this by
using dogs and sled part way. His
winters work netted him over $4,000,
to be blown in on the gayeties Of Nome
and Seattle"
sr