East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1906-03-02
BACK FROM ALASKA
POSTAL INSPECTOR FROM
THE FAR NORTH.
Northcrnmost Postoffice in the World
Is kotzbue, In Northern Edge of
Alaska-Enjoys Mail Service Which
Delivers Mail Twice During the
Winter Season.

Clum, who recently returned from his
annual supervisory tour of the Alas
kan postal system, told some interest
ing things about the peninsula to a
reporter the other day, says the New
York Sun.
The two most wonderful things
about Alaska" said he, "are. first, the
way the white man has penetrated to
every nook of the peninsula in search
of gold; and, secondly, the way the
postal department has kept up with
him. Only one postal station west of
Dawson in 1898. And now about 60
postoffices in its place, los through
out the entire territory with a live,
free rural delivery service covering the
creeks around Cape Nome. Between
these two stages is embraced a story
of postal enterprise that is second in
interest only to the story of the gold
camps
THE department has kept up with
the advancing frontier up there only
by adopting unusual measures to meet
unusual conditions. When the rush
first began in '9s another inspector
and were sent in with sledges and ca
noes to move the mails, establish new
offices and appoint new postmasters
under bonds. Our authority was prac-
tically limitless. 1t was the only way
in which to meet the emergencies Gre
ated in an inclement country almost
without communication with the out
side as the Yukoner graphically
terms that part of the world that lies
beyond and below st. Michaers and
Sitka.
Alaska, owing to the unique con-
ditions, still remains a separate postal
province entirely different in salaries,
expense accounts, general manage
ment and the like, from every other
part of the federal domain. Few peo-
pie know, for instance, that the post
master of the comparatively small
town of Dawson, Canadian Alaska,
owing to the heavy expense of living
in the peninsula, gets only 800 less
salary than the postmaster of Chi
cago.
This unusual standard of expense
had to be provided for in all things.
For instance, the statute provides that
the allowance for rent, light and ffuel
at any third-class postoffice shall not
exceed $3.50 a year. You can under
stand how far that allowance will GO
in those sections where the Arctic
winter prevails eight months, with
coal at $50 to $50 a ton, proportionate
expense for light during the long
nights and merchants paying $3.50 to
5000 a month rent for medium sized
store rooms. Such conditions demand
special relief from the postmaster gen.
eraI.
Another Interesting fact is the pay
of the clerks at Nome, st. Michael and
Fairbanks. They have really been re-
ceiving larger salaries than the post
masters at those offices. yet they are
paid only the minimum wage rate pre-
vailing in those sections for clerical
service and from $50 to $50 a month !
less than salaries paid the Canadian |
clerks at Dawson. Meanwhile, these |
postmasters are required to furnish !
large bonds, $4,000 at Nome and s26,-
600 at Fairbanks. If it wasn't for the
lrontiersinan's pride In being some
sort of an official. I'm afraid these |
would go a-begging.
"But the department has managed ,
to keep up with the rush somehow |
and deserves credit for that. The
special appropriation of $4,000 for |
Alaska made by congress last year was
a great boon and a long delayed move |
in the right direction. It makes it |
possible to remedy such a condition
as existed when l was in Nome in
1900. With $4,000 to $4,000 people |
clamorins for their mail, was not
able to pay a dollar for the construc-
ton or lease of a postoffice, and
we'd have been in hard luck, indeed, |
If the miners themselves hadn't cared
for the shelter of the mail and the
score of clerks employed in handling
it.
IN fact, it's the sturdy pluck and
endurance of the Yukoners themselves
that have made 1t possible to give them
good mail service. Too much credit
can hardly be given to the 'mushers'
and their trusty dogs, upon whom al
most the entire transportation is de-
pendent in winter. And it's winter up
there about nine months out of the IL.
Yet the mails arrive and depart over
the new and rugged country, over bad
trails, through fogs and billiards., as
II they were being carried on the ex-
press trains of the outside instead of