Tag: Mail

New North

Nat Geo Aug ’47

Back when this photo was taken in the summer of 1947, Penasse, Minnesota was the most northerly post office in the US. Nowadays, it’s Barrow, Alaska. I’m pretty sure we’re done acquiring new states, so Barrow will probably retain the title.

The man  who looks like The Skipper from “Gilligan’s Island” is actually Captain Young, a veteran skipper of the mailboat Resolute (not the S.S. Minnow), which had just arrived on the 50-acre island from Warroad, just shy of Canada. The poor-postured woman with her pelvis tucked beneath her is postmistress Mrs. Fran Cole. The two men beside her, one of which appears to be leering menacingly, are Chippewa Indian fishing guides for summer visitors.

Neither Snow Nor Rain Nor Heat Nor Gloom Of Night

Chicago Mailman N. Sorenson in 1929 (pinterest)

*The American postman’s creed: “”Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds”

Per wikipedia, it actually derives from a quote from Herodotus’ Histories, referring to the courier service of the ancient Persian Empire:

It is said that as many days as there are in the whole journey, so many are the men and horses that stand along the road, each horse and man at the interval of a day’s journey; and these are stayed neither by snow nor rain nor heat nor darkness from accomplishing their appointed course with all speed.

— Herodotus, Histories (trans. A.D. Godley, 1924)