The daily sentinel., 1914-03-07
HISTORY OF GRAND junction
interviewer IN SKETCH Of THE
POSTOFF|CE BY EDWIN PR|C|

NOAh PtAltQ " khpu Ills EHOfI-
ages. Mr.. Connely succeeded
Bridges as POSTMASTER, but rather
against his will. Efforts were made
to have me take the office. but |
could not afford to neglect my pa
per and refused. Mr.. Conelly moved
the office into the Canon block in
I the room where now Is located
Kraft & Emerson's store. facing on
Main street.
Shores as Postmaster.
I Another political revolution put
Grover Cleveland back in the presi-
dental chair. owing TO the fact that
the "Mugwamp" element in the Re-
! publican party made q fight on
: James C. Blaine. This. of course,
meant another democratic postmas-
ter for Grand Junction. NJ. A..
Shores, late county treasurer. Sc
cured the plum through the influ-
ence of his brother. NJ. Cyrus W
\ Shores, who was then sheriff of
Gunnison. county, and an influential
politician in those days
During Mr.. Shores term the Of
l flee was again moved to the old
stand on upper Main street, where
/ Winfield's store Ia. At the close OF
Mr.. Cleveland's second term there
was another fierce political battle.
when Mr.. William ]. Bryan made his
famous fight for silVer-l6 to /.
/ Colorado was lost TO the Republican
party for the first time. and Mr.. Nc
Kinley received but $4,000 votes out
OF 1000 cast. ] refused to join
the Silver Republican party. despite
the fact that there were threats OF
all sorts. and the News was boycott
tod Inv 10 hra Of hA fft tr
Just at this time / had sold Mr..
Avery c. Newton an interest in the
News. and We had taken counsel to-
gether and decided to stand firm on
the platform adopted by the Nation
al Republican party. i was nominat
ed for secretary of state on the Re-
publican state ticket, by the conven-
tion which was held at Colorado
Springs. We went into the campaign
under the leadership OF Senator
Edward o. Wolcott, stalwart of the
stalwarts. a brilliant orator and
hard fighter. OF course We knew
that 1t was a losing game so far as
Colorado was concerned, but our
chief aim was to preserve our Or
ganization. which the Silver Republi-
can party was trying to steal.
Mr.. Mckinley was elected Nov. 7,
1896. and on Nov. /. 1897, | became
Grand functions postmaster for the
second time. The postoffice re-
celpts had just reached the $4,000
mark. and the office had entered
into the second class. Mr.. Shores
had been conducting the office with
the help Of his assistant, Mr.. Chas.
Bennett. now of Ouray. and his
nephew. Harry Shores, whom he was
t-gr, Of hf- sol n
Mr.. Price in Charge.
took the office and appointed
David F. Strain. now postmaster at
Palisade, as my assistant, and re-
tanned Harry Shores for some time.
Later Mr.. Walter l.. Mulkey accepted
position and took Mr.. Shores
place. Six months later we appealed
to the department for another clerk,
and Edward B. Wilson was appoint-
ed. During the first year Mr.. Strain
resigned his position and went on
his farm near Clifton, where he has
since planted and sold several
orchards and made a. comfortable
fortune out of them.
Mr.. Alvin E. Borschell, who now
holds a cashiers position in the
Grand Valley National bank, and
who had Just graduated from the
high school, took Mr. Strains place.
Mr.. Mulkey succeeded Mr.. Strain as
assistant postmaster, and held the
place until about seven years ago.
when he went west and settled in
Oregon. Mr. Borschell was then ap-
pointed assistant, and very ably
served in this capacity until he ac-
cepted the position with the bank.
Edward B. Wilson then served in
this capacity for about year and
half. and was succeeded by Mr..
Edgar A. Rider, the present incum-
bent. who has proven himself very
efficient man for the place.
In 1900 the annual receipts of the
office had reached $4,000. and the
city was entitled to free delivery.
and | began to make preparations
to secure this advantage for our city.
The equipment of the office was in
adequate and out of date for the
gro owing needs of the service. | laid
the situation before Mr.. Orson
Adams. and he at once took the mat
ter up. and soon had a proposition
which was submitted to the depart
ment. which resulted in our present
quarters When they were finished.
we had one of the very best equip
ped offices in any town of our size
in the state. The office was moved
to its present location on July l..
1900. The free delivery service
was inaueurated Dec. 10. 1901. with
Edgar A Rider, Stephen T. Ege-
ness and Edwin W. Cotes as carriers.
or these Mr. Rider alone remains in
the service and has been advanced
from various positions up to his
present very responsible position as
assistant postmaster.
On Feb. /, 1902. the rural de-
livery service was inaugurated, two
routes being established. Charles
w Rundle and Daniel NJ. Click were
selected as carriers for routes one
and two respectively. The fact that
they have held their positions up to
the present time indicate that they
have been good carriers. Route No.
was established Nov. 1. 1904, with
Jesse W. Stevens in charge and he Is
still on the job as regular as clock
work. Route No. was esta blished
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