Peering at the Past Not a Deserter, Merely the Mailman

First of a two-part series

Cy Larson of Houston used 13 different vehicles while traveling about 560,000 miles, equivalent to 22 and a half times around the world. It was a life-long pursuit for  Larson, who from the age of six, wanted to be a mail carrier while listening to the tales of Mabel-area carrier Grandville Bates. In the early 1920s, rural carriers often stopped along their routes to stable their horses and enjoy dinner with patrons and would report news from town and their routes. During visits with Bates, young Cy developed a fascination for carrying the mail.

Larson began his postal tours in June, 1950, on Route 3, Houston. “My first route was about 47 miles,” he told the Houston County News. “I went the rounds on the first day with Bill Kerrigan and thought I had it down. The next day, I got lost on Black Hammer Ridge.”

Larson developed numerous friendships on his route. When he had certified letters and packages to deliver and would have to take them past the mailbox and up to the house, he would often be asked inside for coffee. “But I would soon realize they would have a whole spread out.” When routes were changed about 1976, Larson lost all of his coffee places on Route 3.

Larson was often called to deliver groceries to the Dugan sisters, who lived on Ft. Ridgely. He frequently transported people from town into the countryside. He purchased his eggs while on his mail route. He was able to see people in their natural environment. “You get to know them as they are. Usually, when we meet people in a social way, we don’t see people how they really are. When you deliver mail, you often come upon people unexpectedly, without props.”

Larson noted how people on his route got to be like family, many waiting by their mailbox for the mailman. “You share their joys and sorrows. You really get to know them. Little girls often send valentines or other greeting cards.” 

In 1952, Larson bought an old Army jeep to drive while carrying the mail. Soon after, he was heading down Highway 16 when he met a convoy from Camp McCoy. An M.P. drove up and said, “Hey fella, get back in line,” thinking he was a deserter. Larson showed them the mail and continued on his way.

He was once pushing his jeep, so it would coast down Money Creek Hill, when the sliding door hit him on the head. His dentures were knocked out of his mouth onto the road where the jeep ran over them. Alas, teeth were all over road.

Nearing retirement in 1980, Larson decided not to buy new tires for his jeep. He had to replace one tire and picked up a bald, used one. On his route, there was a large, white, police dog that liked to bite at tires. When the pooch bit at that bald tire, Larson said he heard a “Whssssh.”

There were mail routes, from village to village, from the early days. In 1858, the year of Minnesota statehood, the Chatfield Democrat published a list of 12 contractors and mail routes in the area. The three longest routes were 60 miles and back, the shortest 20 miles. The greatest expenditure was $1,800, the least $312. Most deliveries occurred once a week; two routes were scheduled for three times a week. Four of those listed were:

• 13621 From Caledonia by Spring Grove, Belleville and Looking Glass to Elliota, 30 miles and back once a week, W. C. Hanchett, $516.
• 13590 From Chatfield, by Rushford and Looneysville to La Crosse (Wis.) 55 miles and back three times a week. Sanzer and Cobb, $1200.
• 13585 From Brownsville by Caledonia, Lenora and Preston, to Carimona, 565 miles and back, three times a week. H. B. Billings, $1,800.
• 13586 From Brownsville by Hokah, San Jacinto and Hamilton to Rushford, 30 miles and back, once a week. W. C. Hanchett, $848

Until the late 1800s and early 1900s, farm residents had to go to a designated town or rural postal stop for their mail or pay private carriers until the United States Post Office established the program of Rural Free Delivery (RFD) to deliver to and pick up mail from roadside mailboxes. First legislated in 1893, RFD became an official service in 1896, and 82 rural routes were active in the nation. It was a massive, expensive undertaking that took several years to implement nationwide, partly due to considerable opposition. It was not available throughout the nation until 1902. Since 1906, the program has officially been known as “rural delivery.”

The first such rural route established in Minnesota was January 1, 1897 at Farmington. The superintendent of rural free delivery, A. W. Machem, visited the Minnesota State Fair in 1902 to report there were 331 routes in operation in Minnesota with expansion as soon as possible with over 100 routes already ordered for the First District. 

RFD, as welcomed as it was by farm families, was not a popular proposal among storekeepers, who feared the reduction of farmers’ weekly visits to town along with the competition from mail order. Supt. Machem, in that 1902 speech, noted “The great majority of people prefer to buy from the place before them, if it fairly meets their wishes, than to deal with a distant merchant through the mails.” However, mail order would become big business.

In September 1905, the Winona Republican-Herald reported complete rural delivery mail service with new routes probably recommended out of Caledonia, Hokah and Brownsville. A new route was to be established out of Rushford, which would enter Houston County and supply the Vinegar Hill area and town of Money Creek.  There were then 17 rural routes operating in Houston County: five each from Houston and Spring Grove, four from Caledonia, two from La Crescent and one from Hokah. An additional route from Spring Grove would discontinue the post office at Yucatan. 

To be continued with more postal workers and even more postal tales.

Sources: “The Mail Lettings, ”Chatfield Democrat, May 15, 1858; “Rural Free Delivery,” Winona Republican-Herald, Sept. 8, 1902; “Complete Delivery,” Winona Republican-Herald, Sept. 8, 1905; “Rural mail carrier retires here,” Houston County News, Nov. 13, 1980.