Idaho County free press., 1924-08-07

There is no class of employees o
the u. S. government that faces NOR
actual perils of life and limb and il
subject to more vicissitudes of thu
elements in daily routine than thu
men who carry the mails over some
of the more difficult star routes
These men are not paid salaries, but
work under contract, awarded under
the law as a result of competitive
bidding They differ from all other
government employees in that they
fix their own salaries.
When it is pointed out that during
the last two and half years fifty-five
carriers have lost their lives while
in the performance of duty, it will
be seen that the tasks assigned them
are hazardous in the extreme.
There are star routes scattered
throughout the country where ''seas
of mud" are considered of slight mo-
ment and where the perils encount
cred from ice packs and foes many
times result in death or serious and
permanent injury.
To the city dweller a reference to
the mail man brings picture of the
gray-coated carrier who delivers his
letters and packages unhampered to
any great extent by wind or weather.
But the resident of the rural district
thinks of him as the driver of
hOrSe-drawn or motor vehicle. whose
arrival is regarded as an event in the
daily life Of the occupant of the
farm, putting him, as it does. in
touch with the outside world and
with his fellow man.
Records of the postoffice depart
ment show that among the most dan
gerOus and difficult routes served by
rural carriers and star route CON
tractors are those extending from
Newport to Otter Rock, Ore, Ellison
Bay to Detroit Harbor, Wise. Rocky
Bar to Atlanta Idaho, and from San
lusky to Kellys Island, Middle Bass
md Put-in-Bay, o.
On the Rocky Bar-Atlanta, Idaho
quite, the service is performed in the
winter season by carriers travelling
IN snowshoes, packing fifty pounds of
nail. Not infrequently, capriers on
his route have been caugh. in snow
lides and swept to death. Only a
ear or two ago, a carrier lost his
lie In this way early in January and
rs body was not recovered until
ate the following June.
The routes from Ellison Bay to De-
roit Harbor, Wise, and from Sun
usky, o., to nearby islands must be
perated over the ice in the winter
nj In the fall when the lake is froz-
N. During the spring thaw il is
Extremely difficult and hazardous TO
AIRY on the service. A number of
arriers have lost their lives in en-
eayoring to transport the mails be-
veen these points.
Probably one of the most hazard
us experiences that ever befell one
more of Uncle Sans mail carriers
as that of the Hitchcock brothers.
irrlers on the routes out of San
1sky Some winters ago, while en-
savoring to deliver mail to residents
some of the smaller islands in
axe Erie they were caught in
orm and running ice. They were
lrrled down the lake by the resist
SIS force of a drift in which they
I'd become wedged. The carriers
ere given up for lost by the excited
landers. A cablegram wired to
ely island read:
Look out for the carriers; they
e fast in the ice and drifting that
ly."
But the two men, after many eff
rts, were rescued. They were in
exhausted condition and so COM
etely covered and weighed down
tn ice as to be helpless. Their cans
re frozen fast to their heads and
'ir clothes so loaded with ice that
wearers were unable to bend.