Heppner gazette. [volume] (Heppner, Morrow County, Or.) 1892-1912, 1905-07-13

charge of the office at Point Barrow
Alaska, the porthermost post Office il
the world, has rendered his resignation
TO the post office deps,tment, and the
department is in search of a man to fl
the place.
The duties of the place are by nc
means arduous, though some of the
qualifications exacted OF the successful
applicant may prove little trying. He
is expected to be able to handle al
least three mails each year, two OF
which will reach him during the winter
months and one some time in July,
soon after the opening of the Arctic
ocean to navigation. Between the ar
rivals of mails he will be permitted by
the department to take much needed
vacation. says the Seattle News.
Puint Barrow is some 800 miles
northeast of Nome. The place consists
of native settlement and Presby-
t,rian mission, the latter having been
for several years in charge of Mr..
Marsh, the late postmaster. Last year
Mr.. Marsh was ordered from Point
Barrow to Hoonah and when he de-
parted for his new station he left the
Office in charge of an assistant. He is
d ,sirous of being relieved of the work
on account of the manifest inconver-
ience of residing in one town and con-
ducting posoftice in another one some
1900 miles distant.
The department has promised to re-
lieve him of the Office as soon as it ia
able to find suitable and trustworthy
man to take bis place. The search for
such man is now being conducted by
Postal Inspector Clum. of the the die
trict of Alaska, who arrived from the
east this morning and is registered at
the Hotel Washington, Seattle.
The most exacting requirement of the
new postmaster is that he reside at
Port Barrow. This the department will
insist upon. The present postmaster
mas made a satisfactory official, but he
8 not resident of the place, hence the
necessity for change.
The Point Barrow office receives
hree mails year. One of these is
carried on the revenue cutter Bear
which visits the place each summer.
A. the missi )nary school there one of
he exciting events of the year is a
guessing contest among the pupils for a
orize offered !he one who guesses near
,st to the date the Bear will arrive.
interest in this contest begins early in
|
he autumn and increases in intensity
ii night. becoming very exciting by &
bout July |, when the natives begin {
D look for the cutter. She usually ar c
ives some time between July | and r
august 81. and following her arrival Y
ONES one of the busy seasons for the t
She sometimes brings as {
lany as 35 letters in bunch.
The other mails to Point Barrow are p
arriau from Nome on reindeer tleds.
8 the distance is only some so mi es h
is a plea SAINT ittla jaunt for an Eski. g
10 mail carrier to take during The cary
2ys of an Atctic evening. The vi ter
lais. being two in number, are not so
rge as the enc which Is received in
le s1mmef, Consequently Involve less
Dor on the part of the postmaster.
The salary OF the uffire is a little un-
'rtain. He is paid according to the
slue OF tie stamps Cancelled by Il Q
lice. As lie IS about the only psrson
the settlement who has any reason to
ute letters, his inc IN dep nds on the
| nb Der Of letters he writes. If be fs
ry industrious he c n increase his in
me, charging himself with the stamps
uses as IN indiyidnal, then credting
mself with them when as postmaster
cancels th m transmissi n.
Mr. Clum doe not know hov large