Alaska’s First Free Mail Delivery Service
f .
The following story is being reprinted with
the express permission of the author’s son. The
story, “Alaska’s First Free Mail Delivery In 1900”
was written by the late Fred Lockley of Portland,
Oregon.
Mr. Lockley passed away on Oct. 15, 1958, at
the age of 87. He had been a columnist and
editorial writer for the Portland Journal of Com
merce since 1911. He was probably best known
for his column “The Journal Man,” which was
also headed “Fred Lockley’s Impressions.”
By FRED LOCKLEY
(Second Installment)
Taking our notebooks, we started down Front
Street to get the names of our patrons. One of the
first places I entered was a restaurant. I stated
my errand. The proprietor, a woman, looked in
credulous, and asked. “How much are you going
to tax me to bring my mail?” I told her it would
be a free delivery, and no charge whatever, as
the government was paying me five dollars a day
for my services. “Free delivery! Now wouldn’t
that paralyze you! she exclaimed incredulously.
“Going to bring us our letters around for nothing.
Well, God bless Uncle Sam. That is the only
thing I ever head of in this camp that was free.”
Almost without exception the people offered to
pay for having their mail delivered, and could
scarcely credit the fact of having service ren
dered without cost.
The inspector had told us of the condition that
existed at Dawson in the early days of the stam
pede there, where one was almost compelled to
show the color of his money to get attention. “For
the credit of the service, boys, we want no grafting
here,” he said, and I may say right here that his
request was complied with. Not only that, but it
so happened that neither my comrade, Ben Taylor,
nor myself smoked or drank. This fact was a
constant source of astonishment to our patrons.
We had dozens of saloons on our routes. As soon
as I had taken the list of names to be delivered,
or later, whenever I would bring mail, the invari
able query would be “Well, what will you take?”
“Thanks, I don’t care for anything,” I would re
spond. “Take a couple of cigars then,” and the
barkeeper would produce a box of his best. “What!
you don’t smoke either,” he would exclaim in as
tonishment as I declined the proferred cigars. One
man insisted that I, take something, and feeling a
little thirsty, and not wishing to appear dis
courteous, I said, “Very well, I will take a drink
of boiled water if you happen to have any handy.”
The look of scorn that came over his face. He
paused, studying me, evidently to see if I was in
earnest, and then said, as though loath to believe
that evidence of his senses. “Did you say ‘boiled
water?’ Such stock as that on the shelves to
choose from, and you ask for boiled water. Say,
I have run up against all sorts of people and a
few other sorts in my time, but you, you more
than take the cake; you take the whole bakery.
However, it’s up to you to nominate your poison,
so boiled water goes,” and he poured me a beer
glass of boiled water. I did not repeat the experi
ment; that was my first and last drink. There
after, I kindly but firmly declined all liquid
refreshments. I did not want the population to
turn out en masse to gaze upon me as a freak, if
not of the first water, at least of boiled water!
We spent the afternoon in getting the names
and locations of our patrons, and in arranging
them in numerical and alphabetical order. Next
morning we reported at the postoffice, and were
given several pouches of letters which had been
taken from the cases to make room for later mail.
Breakfast was just over in the little back kitchen,
so we cleared the table and used it and the floor
upon which to sort the letters, and get out those
belonging to our patrons. Chairs being a minus
quantity (they were pressed into service in the
register and money order department when not in
use in the kitchen), we improvised seats from rolls
of paper. We had to abandon the table presently
to allow dinner preparation to get under way. In
a little room about 12x12, eleven clerks were
working. It was a case of standing room only.
This condition, however, was soon remedied by
taking out the partition and removing the kitchen
to a tent. We found letters for some of our patrons
that had been there for months. Some individuals
would have a dozen letters. The paper mail had
not been opened, as there were no facilities for
handling it. In consequence, several tons of second,
third and fourth-class matter had accumulated.
We worked until 11 p.m. looking through the ac
cumulations of old letters and getting out mail
for our respective routes.
Improvising carriers’ sacks from canvas regis
ter supply sacks and valise straps, and routing
our mail as best we could, we started out next
morning on the first free mail delivery ever made
in Alaska.
The first establishment on my route was a boat
anchored in Snake River, the “Minneapolis,” which
was used as a private hospital and boarding house.
It was one of several other similar business loca
tions on my route. The high cost of business lots,
■
building material and labor caused boats to be
pressed into service for business purposes. The
Quickstep Restaurant and Hotel was conducted on
board a boat attached to the shore by a gangplank.
The Pacific Cold Storage Co. employed the steamer
“Lotta Talbot” as their place of business.
The appearance of a uniformed letter carrier
delivering mail as calmly in the midst of all the
confusion as though at home was a sight that
stopped traffic almost as quickly as a fight would
have done. Men bent beneath the weight of a
heavy pack would stop a moment, shift their pack
straps and look at me. “That is the most natural
thing I have seen since I left Denver,” said one
onlooker. “Blamed if it don’t make a man feel
as if he was in God’s country, and that Alaska
was part of the United States. Uncle Sam is a
brick. I always did think so, now I know it.”
They would give -an approving nod and then
“mush on” out over the trembling tundra in search
of the elusive gold.
Before we had gone a block we were sur
rounded by an eager throng, giving us orders to
deliver their mail to this and that place. We had
to establish a rule that only those actually en
gaged in business, either as proprietor or as em
ployees, could have their mail delivered, or we
would have had half the population giving orders
to have their mail left in care of different business
firms. I am afraid that the rule was more honored
in the breach than in the observance, however, for
we would deliver mail at some saloons for a
score or more persons. When I inquired if they
were all employees the answer would be, “Oh, yes.
They are working for us all right, but just now
they are out on one of the creeks.”
You often read of the postman being an ever
welcome visitor. I never knew what that meant
before. Welcome is a very mild term for the en
thusiastic reception we frequently received. One
man on my route was so worried by not hearing
from home that he was almost ready to pull up
stakes and leave. He had not heard from his wife
since his arrival, and he fancied some one with a
similar name was receiving his mail. I took his
name, and next day handed him five letters from
his wife. Welcome! Well, rather.
Speaking of persons with similar names re
minds me of Peter Peterson. There were three
Peter Petersons who had no middle initial, and
several of that name having a middle initial, each
of whom thought his correspondents might by ac
cident have omitted his middle initial. 'When any
one of the many Petersons called for his mail he
had to tell the place from which he expected it.
If he could not tell the postmark of the office of
dispatch, he had to wait until the various other
Petersons had had an opportunity of identifying
it. This rule led the various Peter Petersons to do
some wild guessing as to where their letters might
have come from.
The general delivery was said to be the largest
in the United States, and I presume it was, as in
large cities most of the mail is handled through
carriers, boxes or sub-stations. In the Nome gen
eral delivery the alphabet was divided into over
700 divisions. For example, it required 70 boxes
to case the letter “B.” The most common names
were assigned one or more boxes. The “Johnsons”
required five separations, being divided on their
initials; box one consisting of Johnsons whose in
itials were between A and J; the next J and M;
M to* P; P to S; and S to Z. Some names there
were which were not apt to be duplicated, for
example, such names as these, which I copied from
letters in the general delivery: Ole, Yonassen,
Stensfjedt, and G. E. Tyszkicwicz.
When the system of free delivery had been in
operation several weeks we were looking through
seven pouches of letters just received on the
steamer “Roanoke” from-the “outside,” as “God’s
country” was always termed. After looking through
five pouches we took a rest to get our supper.
During our absence the inspector and acting post
master counted the letters I had gotten from the
mail for my patrons. There were 1,074, and from
the remaining two pouches I got several hundred
more! Upon several steamer days I had taken
out on my first trip more than 1,200 letters, get
ting from the same mail 100 or 20*0 additional in
going through the general delivery cases, looking
up my patrons name by name from my route book.
The postoffice was open to the public from
8 a.m. until midnight each weekday, Sunday having
somewhat shorter hours. As we could not look
through the cases while they were in use, we
would report at 12 o’clock at night and look thru
the general delivery until 6 a.m., when we would
go to our tent, prepare and eat our breakfast, and
at 8 o’clock or later, start our delivery. We were
usually through by noontime. We frequently did
not get to sleep.until 8 or 9 o’clock, thus getting
only three or four hours’ sleep owt of the 24, so
the postmaster told us not to report until 4 a.m.
The night force, whose duty it was to work out
the lists of “forwarded letters,” “returned to
writer,” and “advertised” letters, worked as they
found opportunity on our books, getting out mail
for our patrons.
(To Be Continued'
Varied State Laws
Total 32 Signed
By Chief Executive
JUNEAU, UPl — Acting Gover
nor Hugh J. Wade’s signature has
now made 32 measures law this
session.
In all, Monday, the chief exec
utive signed eight bills, including
ones to ban the use of drum seine
fishing in Alaska waters and to
provide public works programs in
economically-distressed areas, and
vetoed another.
The public works money would
come from unobligated harbor
funds. The veto rejected as un
necessary a House bill to lapse
some old education appropriations
extending back to 1957. It was
unanimously upheld by the Sen
ate and House in executive ses
sion.
Another bill signed authorizes
pay for Governor Egan for the
month he was on the job in Ju
neau before he was sworn into
office.
The other new laws prescribe
standards for the Alaska flag, set
up a general savings statute, as
sent to federal aid for education,
require parents to pay the costs
of maintaining their delinquent
minors in custody and permit a
transfer in the Department of
Lands appropriation.
Also Monday a total of 22 new
bills were introduced in the
House, bringing the number for
the session to 179; and eight in
the Senate, making 106 for the
upper chamber. Henceforth,, un
less both branches change their
rules, only standing committees
can introduce new bills.
On another front, the Senate
received the House bills calling
for a $25,000 salary for Governor
Egan and $18,000 for Secretary
of State Wade. They were assigned
to the Senate Finance Committee
for study, with indications they
would be reported out quickly
without amendment.
It could mean final action on
the two bills before the end of
the week.
On February 23, 1945, the Amer
ican flag was raised for the first
time over the Japanese fortified
island of Iwo Jima, when mem
bers of the 28th Marines planted
the Stars and Stripes on the high
est point, Mount Suribachi.
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| Arctic Sanitarv |
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Nome Entry In
Fairbanks Race
Runs With Champs
Isaac Okleasik, Nome’s entry in
the North American Grand Cham
pionship Dog Race will be running
today with some champion mush
ers, at Fairbanks.
Entered in the field are Henry
Beatus and George Attla, of
Hughes; Bergman Sam and War
ner Vent, Huslia; Frank Sam and
William Williams, Alaktak; Kias
Peter, Arctic Village; Wilbur
Sampson, Samuel Sampson, and
the 1958 NAC champion, Alfred
Wells, from Noorvik; Amos Fos
ter and Doc Harris, Kotzebue;
Larry Westlake, Kiana; Roy Fol
ger, Henry Kokrine and Lester
Erhart, Tanana;
Jimmie Malemute, winner of
the J9f) Alaska championship,
Galena; Earl Norris, Anchorage;
Virgil Titus and Floyd Alexander,
Minto; Bob Loveless, Gareth
Wright, Dave Dalrymple, John
Greenway, Harold Greenway, Jim
Bischoff, Art Joseph and God
frey Joseph, all of Fairbanks. *
Today the prize money will
total $750 for the top four teams.
On Saturday the purse will be
$1,100, and on Sunday day money
will total $1,500, with an addi
tional $3,650 being paid to the
eight top-ranking teams in total
elapsed, time.
Times are expected to be so
close in the 1959 race that any
minor accident may cost the racer
hundreds of dollars, said Libby
Wescott, press agent for the event.
Special awards for the 1959
North American Champion will be
a fur parka, watch, 35MM cam
era, and a rifle. The musher com
ing in last in the 70-mile event
wins a pair of skis.
ICC Seeks To Amend
Trucking Regulations
To Cover Alaska Service
WASHINGTON, m—The Inter
state Commerce Commission an
nounced a proposal Monday re
garding hundreds of trucking per
mits granted prior to January 3,
1959, . when Alaska became the
49th state. , >
The commission published • a
proposed addition to its regula
tions which officials said wotfld
serve to answer questions which
have been raised about Alaskan
operations in relation to the pre
statehood permits.
The rule would specify that all
permits which refer to “points :in
the United States” shall be inter
preted to mean authorized service
to and from Alaska.
The ICC invited written com
ment to be submitted by April 15.
Snow on the mountains — Rain from the sky —
Water in the rivers, and creeks rolling by;
Blessings from Heaven, Grateful are we —
Make Bronson’s Soft Water a treat when thirsty !
Cpll MAIN 19
Bronson Water Delivery
I 1959 PIONEER CARD SERIES
SIX GAMES — PIONEER IGLOO
Cards at 8 p.m. — Saturdays
March 14 / March 28 !
April 11
$1.2’ per Person — Season Ticket $6
^ Door Prize Each Evening ☆
Grand Prize ☆ Refreshments
• ' / '' •