Mail by Pail
Did you know …
Delivering the mail to isolated areas has been a challenge over the years for the Post Office. In 1845, a new service called Star Routes began. Private letter carriers were hired to deliver the mail these areas, allowing the person to decide the best way to do to the job. Some surprising ways have been used.
Stagecoaches
Stagecoaches delivered the mail to 75 post offices by 1788 and were used before the Star Routes began. They continued to be used until the early 1900s. Mail bags were stored under the driver’s seat. Horseback riders replaced some of the stagecoaches.
Water Routes
A mail boat is used in Magnolia Springs, Alabama, to deliver mail. Twenty-five miles by boat would be eighty-five miles by land, so the water route cuts the distance more than half.
Mule trains
In Arizona, the Havasupai Indians have received their mail in an unusual way for decades. Pack mules loaded with packages and mail go down an eight-mile trail into the Grand Canyon.
Dogsleds
Until 1963, dogsleds delivered the mail to small Alaskan towns. Now, mail planes have taken over service to the isolated villages.
Mail by Pail
The most unusual way that mail is delivered might be the “Mail by Pail” method. On the Detroit River, rowboats make a mid-river transfer of mail to Great Lakes freighters. A bucket with outgoing mail is dropped by rope to the rowboat below. The letter carrier takes this mail and replaces it with new letters to those aboard ship.
– Sandra M. Hart