Worcester Democrat and the ledger-enterprise. (Pocomoke City, Md.) 1921-1953, 1924-08-16
Country's Heroes
Not All In Army
Thrilling Story Of Mail Car
riers' Hardships.-Dangers
Faced For Service Alone.
Continued from page 6

Continued from page 6
his horse, sleigh and mail. 1t is at
these times that the proximity of the
U. s. Coast Guard station at Plum
Island is a Godsend. One such Incl
dent took place some years ago. The
breakup occurred while the carrier
was transporting the mail to this side
over the ice with horse and sleigh.
The ice became so thoroughly broken
up that in a very short time the car
rier found himself on an ice cake
barely large and heavy enough to hold
him and his equipment. The Coast
Guard crew, having noticed his plight,
came to the rescue. They succeeded
in getting a line out to the carrier and
then toward the whole cake over the
solid ice and the carrier was enabled
to walk onto more solid ice and there
by reached the mainland.
when the carrier can not find solid
ice on which to travel he usually re-
sorts to his motor launch. This he
has conveniently moored inside the
edge of the heavy ice with a channel
cut away to open water.
Here he may have to buck new ice
for long distances and travel thru
slush ice which will be 8 or 10 feet
deep and oftentimes impossible. In
such circumstances, he has to return
and seek out new openings in the ice
fields. Sometimes his boat is caught
in drifting ice fields and carried out
into Lake Michigan and forced to stay
out over night. Finding suitable land
ing places en- either shore during the
winter, cutting off all access to docks.
Then the carrier must. land along the
beaches wherever the surf will per-
NIT, anchor his boat in deep navigable
water and ferry the mail into shore
in rowboat, then carry the mail
bags over the ice banks and hum
mocks to the waiting team on land.
Another mode Of carrying the mail
is by the use of the ice boat. The
carrier attaches ropes to the gunwales
forward and hauls the boat along the
ice like sled. When open water is
encountered he launches the boat
takes his place at the oars and pulls
for the other side. This sounds ex-
ceedingly simple to the uninitiated
BIT the difficulty comes when attempt
ing to launch the boat from edge of
the ice. Naturally, there is wide belt
of slush ice and small cakes caused
by the seas pulverizing the outskirts
of the ice foes. Sometimes the seas
are SO heavy that they will dash the
small boat back on the solid ice. At
other times the cakes that comprise
this belt of broken ice are too heavy
to row through. When this happens
the carrier leaps out on the cakes and
holding on to the gunwale of the boat
pushes it along toward open water,
leaping back into the boat when his
footing has disappeared.
"The wonder of it all is that there
are not frequent drownings but I
know of no loss of life while carrying
mail across Deaths Door. Naturally,
with all these difficulties to overcome,
there are periods when the carrier is
unable to cross, quite frequently for
five or six days at time. During
these delays, mail is piling up at the
Ellison Bay Postoffice making it quite
a problem for the already overworked
carrier as to how to transport such "a
large volume of mail with the means
at hand. These periods of nominal
delivery are trying to the one thou
sand inhabitants on Washington Is
land since the parcels post system af-
fords the only means in winter to pro-
cure supplies, medicine and other
commodities. These conditions will
continue to exist as long as the mail
is transported along the surface Of the
water. Perhaps the airplane will
solve the problem in the future. Why
not?"
The carrier who supplies mail on
the Newport-O Otter Rock route in
Oregon, Immediately on the Pacific
coast, is up against many difficulties
and hardships and many times takes
his life in his hand in order that the
patrons on the route may receive their
letters and packages. The carrier is
compelled to travel down the beach
at low tide. If for some reason the in
coming tide catches him before COM
pleting his trip he must either aban-
don his team and the mails and climb
the rocks or be dashed to pieces a.
gainst them.
The most expensive star route in
the United States is from Price to
Vernal, Utah. 1t is 121 miles long
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