Mail Delivery Service, Cont.
Door to Door Delivery
Kearney Delivery - Affect of trains
Route delivery time – delayed if the
train was late
December 21, 1910 – Make a Protest
Withdrawal of
2 UP trains & consequent delay of important eastern mails
Early night
trains bring only unimportant local stuff
November 4, 1915 – Another UP train
canceled
Mail to come
on another train due in at 2:22 but usually late
Not in time
for afternoon delivery so businessmen don’t get it until the next day unless
they rent a box.
Rural Free Delivery
Started in late 1890’s – Piecemeal as applications came in
September 24, 1902 – Application by
postmaster general to congress for special appropriation of $12 million for
the rural mail delivery service.
Buffalo County - 1900 - applications
from various areas began going in
Whole county covered by 1906
Methods of rural delivery in 1913
Six Routes
3 motorcycles
1 bicycle
1 car (a Maxwell)
1 horse and cart –
A mail cart used at Odessa – now at
Trails & Rails Museum
Pay (August 9, 1919)
Annual pay $1,500
Rural mail carriers in NE were asking
for a raise.
Did not want more money
Asking “government to furnish &
maintain equipment required, such as car or horse & rig.”
Mail Delivery Contracts (before
rural delivery)
Mail delivered by rail to towns along
the train routes
Mail was carried from there to
outlying towns where farmers came to pick it up
Phone call after last month’s program
Todd Stover – Stover family
settled in Cedar Township in Poole area
Pat Stover, Todd’s father, Poole
postmaster and then rural delivery mailman
Book of routes in Nebraska up for bids - Donated by Todd to Archives
5-year delivery contracts
from July 1, 1902 to June 30, 1906.
Found in Poole post office
Most routes ran six days a week, no
Sunday delivery
Otherwise Tuesday, Thursday & Saturdays.
Winner of contract had live along the
route
Had to be covered by a bond
Current annual pay given for each route
Could be subcontracted for the lesser
amount, also given
Union Pacific delivered mail to Shelton, Gibbon, Kearney (Odessa, & Elm
Creek)
Shelton: From Luce to Shelton, [north of Sodtown] 10 miles and back,
a 3 hour trip
Leave Luce at 9:30 a.m.;
Arrive Shelton by 12:30 p.m.;
Leave Shelton at 3 p.m.;
Arrive Luce by 6 p.m.
Present contract pay, $203.40 – [This new bid could be higher or lower]
Subcontract pay, $180.
Gibbon: From Butler to Gibbon, 10 miles and back, six times a week. 3
hour trip
Leave Butler at 12:30 p.m.
Arrive Gibbon by 3:30 p.m.;
Leave Gibbon at 4 p.m.;
Arrive Butler by 7 p.m.
Present contract pay, $178; Subcontract pay, $140.
Two routes out of Kearney
Kearney, by Prairiecenter, to Majors, 20 miles and back. 6 hour trip
each way.
Leave Kearney at 6:30 a.m.;
Arrive Majors by 12:30 p.m.;
Leave Majors at 1 p.m.;
Arrive at Kearney by 7 p.m.
Present contract pay, $176.14; Subcontract pay, $140.
Kearney, by Romeyn, to Haydon, Phelps Co. 17 miles and back, three
times a week. 5 hour trip
Leave Kearney at 7 a.m.;
Arrive at Haydon by 12 noon;
Leave Hayden at 1 p m;
Arrive at Kearney by 6 p m;
Present contract pay, $186.59; Subcontract pay, $143.
Burlington delivered mail to Ravenna
From Ravenna, by Pool Siding and Pleasanton, to Sartoria, 22 miles
and back. 5 ½ hour trip
Leave Ravenna at 6:30 a m;
Arrive Sartoria by 12 noon [after stops in Poole Siding & Pleasanton]
Leave Sartoria 20 min. later (20 min. after arrival of mail from
Ravenna) approx. 12:20
Arrive at Pleasanton in 2 hours; (approx. 2:20)
Leave Pleasanton at 3 p m; 3 ½ hour trip
Arrive at Ravenna by 6:30 p m [12 hour day]
Present contract pay, $345; Subcontract pay, $325.
From Pleasanton to Peake, 9 miles and back, three times a week.
Leave Pleasanton after arrival of mail
from Ravenna by no later than 10:15 a m;
Arrive at Peak in 2 ½ hours;
Leave Peake 15 minutes later (15 min. after arrival of mail from
Pleasanton;)
Arrive at Pleasanton in 2 ½ hours;
Present contract pay, $92.18
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