The Washington herald., 1909-07-11
UNCLE SANS REINDEER POST
Mail Sent Last March from Arctic
Alaska Just In.
They Hadn't Heard Then at Barrow
OF President Taft's Election.
Isolation in Far North.

Wainwright Arctic Alaska. July 10
Many. and Sometimes curious. are the
ways in which the United States postal
authorities collect and distribute the mail.
Perhaps the most curious mail convey.
ance OF ali Is that which crosses The
Arctic Circle, carrying the belated news
OF far-of world 10 the few white men
and women who know al frst-hand the
gloom as wei as the glory. OF the long
arctic night Of winter and the unsettinz
summer sun
naFro" IS the most northerly pOst-odlce
IN the world. with the exception OF an
Office in Greenland. II receives mail
three times year. One of these mails
comes by water during tie brief summer
when the ice usually permits the ships
70 reach that point. The two other mails
are carried nearly 800 miles by reindeer.
There are about thirty white people Ivy
/ Ing along the coast OF Alaska north NJ
The Arctic Circle Seventeen OF these are
az Barrow. Seven more are Al Point
hope, and the remaining six are school
teachers and their wives. who have the
bleak tundra and the ice-pIIed sea fo-
company, and who do not see q vvhite
race more than two or three times a wear
The terrible isolation OF such a ufs can
/ hardly be appreciated by those eniovinr
( tne conEeniences and associations OF
/ civilized society. In this wild world 4bo
mail that brings news from the Old bo-,e
Z ana tnaJ tells OF the throbhlnR world FAR
away Is a thing 10 be yearned FOR sn5
| dreamed over.
Even IN civilized society. where the
mails are received daily aud sometimes
/ Aouriy, and where telegraphs. telephones.
I ana other means Of communication are Ar
hand, The POst-ofice has all the fascina-
/ tlon or Iairyiand- Anxious faces are
pressed against the window panes along
great city streets waiting for the mali
/ carrier, for the mail is kind OF lottery
/ that occasionally brings a prize.
Inc thirty representatives Of q cult
+ waited and complicated civilization that
/ they have left behind. but have not for
/ gotten. how must they feel when after
long months Of anxious waiting the time
/ for the arrival Of mail approaches
Teiegraphs and telephones and the Cos
/ sip OF distant visiting friends are nm
| known. The mail must bring all the
news For DAYS before its arrival lone
/ ngures may be seen mounted on great
snow banks or on the red rooted school
I houses carefully searching the beach ice
FOR the least sign OF the oncoming mail
Al last IL Is seen-three putting rein
I deer hitched tandem q little low sled
: feet long and - inches wide and a be-
furred and befrosted driver fing along
under the pale tints Of the aurora bore
ais or in the dim twilight OF d midwin-
ter arctic noon.
The driver Of this odd little mail stage
Is an Esquimau BY the name OF Pavuna.
he cannot speak word Of English, but
he knows his business and its significance.
Tor the bells are rung and the flags are
given 10 the chilling breeze when Uncle
Sans arctic mail comes in sight through
the gloom.
The last mail arrived here January :.
but none Of II was dated later than OctO-
Der 8. The Presidential campaign was
then on IN the home land: but until the
next mail arrives. IN April. the loyal arc
tic Americans VIII not know whom their
countrymen have elected and inaugu-
rated President.