Mail Delivery in Alaska

In Alaska, dog sleds and reindeer were used to deliver the mail into the 1960s. Mail delivered by reindeer only took half the time required by a dog team. They could carry more weight, and the reindeer would feed themselves by foraging for lichen. A disadvantage of dog teams was that their food had to be prepared in advance and carried along the mail route. The dogs ultimately replaced the reindeer because the reindeer's handling and harnessing were difficult, and fresh dogs were more readily available from villages along the routes.

  

 

1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition Forestry Building

The columns were 124 unpeeled old-growth fir timbers.  They were 4.5 feet in diameter and 37 feet high. Known as the “temple to timber,” it was the largest log cabin in the world. 2.5 million feet of lumber were used to create the building.

1933 Century of Progress

This card has a Scott # 728 stamp with a first-day cancellation. The artist was George W Linn, who is best known for publishing Linn’s Stamp News - the world's largest stamp publication. The pre-event slogan cancellation on this card lists the dates of the fair as June 1 - November 1, 1933. This is an error. The Exposition was open from May 27 to November 12, 1933. Another thing I think is great about the card is that it appeals to several different areas of collecting: postcards, stamps, expositions, postmarks, cachet artists, FDC, postal slogans, and errors, just to name a few.

 

Leather Postcards

Starting in 1903, postcards made of leather were decorated by pyrography known as “fire-writing”. Most were deer skin and in 1909, the post office banned the mailing of leather postcards because they were getting hung up in the sorting machines. One of the most popular leather artists was W.S. Heal. His leather postcards command a higher price. 

Cowboys of the Old West

This real photo postcard dates from 1904 -1918. Scratched into the negative on the left is “Stars at stampede Havre.” On the right of the boy is “Mathison”. I can’t make out the first name. On the right of the man is “Jack Mabee”. Jack Mabee and his close friend “Long George Francis” organized (and performed in) the Great Northern Montana Stampede. In 1917, Long George became an outlaw and was known as the Montana Outlaw. He was convicted of cattle rustling and horse thievery. He was one of the last cowboys of the old west who was loved and known as a genuine folk hero in Montana. I wonder if the photographer in the background is the one who took the photo.