Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-07-09
discovery of gold on
the Pacific coast in the

the Pacific coast in the
latter '4Os fired the Unit
ed States, with excitement and
led to the rapid settlement of
California with people from
every state and territory in the
union. The invasion Of the new
gold fields, in fact, included
people from every nation of the
civilized globe. While t h S
brought about, eventually, the
establishment of the first mail
route across the continent, for
a period of nine years after fol-
lowing the first gold strike
there was no time that the mail
was received from the east in
San Francisco more frequently
than twice a month, and then
by steamer after it had been
transported across the Isthmus
of Panama.
The first overland mail west
of the Missouri river was es-
tablished in 1848, and was call
ed the Great Salt Lake Mail.
The first contract to transfer
mail from independence, Mo-,
on the Missouri river, to Salt
Lake City, was awarded in
1850 to Samuel H. Woodson..
This was a monthly service, the
contract price being S19,500 a
year. The route was 1900 miles
long through a country that
was a wilderness from Missou-
ri's western border to the Salt
Lake valley. Woodson con-
tracted later with Utah men to
have mail carried between Salt
Lake City and Fort Laramie,
on the Platte river, where the
mail stages met and exchanged.
At that time there was no set
Element between Salt Lake and
Fort Laramie except Jim Bird
gers trading post, called Fort
Bridger. During the excite
ment of the first California gold
strike another mail route was
established between Sacrament
to and Salt Lake, but it was
found impossible to make the
journey oftener than once a
month.
Mail Service Slow and Uncertain
In July, 1854. the government let
another contract for carrying mail
from the present site of Kansas City
to Salt Lake, but so frequent were
attacks IN stages by Indians that the /!
contractors for some time found it nee !
essary to pack the mail on three
mules. escorted by three men who also
rode mules. 1t took more than a
month to make the trip from indie
pendence. Mo. to Salt Lake City.
When the stage coaches were used
passengers were charged $50 to Salt
Lake City and $500 to California. The
contractor failed in 1856 and after
that for a year overland mail service
was irregular.
In 1857. when the Mormon trouble
was at its height, General Albert Sid
new Johnston. who later was command
er-in-chief of the Confederate army
and was killed at Shiloh, was sent by
the government with 5000 men TO
quell the disturbances, but was forced
to spend the winter at Fort Bridger,
and this necessitated the establishment
of a regular mail service to keep in
touch with Johnston and his troops.
A contract for weekly mail delivery
was let at a price of S13.S33 a month,
and later the government paid $500
600 a year for carrying mail from In
dependence to Sacramento. The an
ing passenger fares.
Independence was an old trading
point, and it became the most i'm
portant town in Missouri excepting st.
Louis in the early DAYS of the over
land mail. In 1880 it had become the
outfitting point for long oX-train car
avahs hauling merchandise to Santa
Fe and Chihuahua over the famous
old Santa Fee trail. The first stage
coach left there in May, 1910. The
stages, even at that early time. were
handsomely equipped and carried eight
passengers. The bodies were bright
paint ant 10 t%io y ""tN
tight so that they would float in deep
fords across streams. Six mules pull
ed each coach and there were eight
heavily armed.
Six Different Mall Routes
BY 1859 there were no less than
six different mail routes from the
Missouri river to California and the
country. the annual cost to 4;
the government being more than !
A curious feature of the +.
mail routes was one mail con-
between Independence, Mo-. and
Stockton. Calf. which was in effect
for nearly n year and cost the postal
$4,000. The entire mail r
received at Stockton in that
period consisted of two letters and 26 G
newspapers. In 1859 congress %investi- v
gated the western mail routes and O
was a general shaking up {
resulted in a saving of $1,000
300 a year.
After half a dozen years OF experi-
nentation the postmaster general is {
sued an order creating an official V
.ranscOntinental route for mail stages "
as follows: From st. Louis and Mem q
Dhis. converging at Little Rock. Ark: S
hence via Preston. Texas. to the best a