East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1905-07-03


Richmond Marsh, postmaster in
charge of the office at Point Barrow,
Alaska. the northermost post office
in the world, has rendered his resig-
nation to the post office department,
and the department is in search of a
man to fill the place.
The duties of the position are by
no means arduous, though some of
the qualifications eXacted of the sue
cessful applicant may prove a little
trying. He is expected to be able to
handle at 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 arrivals of mails he will be per-
mitted by the department to take a
much needed vacation, says the Sc
attic News.
Point Barrow is some 500 miles
northeast of Nome. The place con-
sists of a native settlement and a
Presbyterian mission, the latter hav-
ing 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 departed for his new station he
left the office in charge of an assist
ant. He is desirous of being relieved
of the work on account of the mani
fest inconvenience of residing in one
town and conducting a postoffice in
another one some 1900 miles distant.
The department has promised to
relieve him of the office as soon as
it is able to find a suitable and trust
worthy man to take his place. The
search for such a man is now being
conducted by Postal Inspector Clum,
of the district of Alaska, who arriv-
ed 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 depart
ment will insist upon. The present
postmaster has made a satisfactory
official but he is not a resident of
the place, hence the necessity for a
change.
The Point Barrow office receives
three mails a year. One of these is
carried on the revenue cutter Bear
which visits the place each summer.
At the missionary school there one of
the exciting events of the year is
a guessing contest among the pupils
for prize offered the one who
guesses nearest to the date the Bear
will arrive. Interest in this contest
begins early in the autumn and in
creases in intensity all night, becom-
ing very exciting by about July l,
when the natives begin to look for the
cutter. She usually arrives some time
between July l and August 81, and
following her arrival comes one of
the busy seasons for the postmaster
She sometimes brings as many as 35
letters in a bunch.
The other mails to Point Barrow
are carried from Nome on reindeer
500 miles is it a pleasant little jaunt
for an Eskimo mail carrier to take
during the early days of an Arctic
evening. The winter mails. being two
in number, are not as large as the
one which is received in the summer,
involve less labor on
the part of the postmaster.
The salary of the office is a little
uncertain. He is paid according to
the value of the stamps cancelled by
the office. AS he is about the only
person in the settlement who has any
reason to write letters, his income de-
pends OH the number of letters he
writes. If he is very industrious he
can increase his income. charging
himself with the stamps he uses as
an individual, then crediting himself
with them when as postmaster he
cancels them for transmission.
Mr.. Clum does not know how large
the salary was last year for the rea-
son that the annual report of the Of
flee mailed January 1, 1905, had not
been received at Washington when he
LETT there 10 days ago. Unless 1t is
delayed it should reach
there about July l. Mr.. Clum thinks,
however, judging from preceding re-
ports, that the income will reach at