 |
| Missle Mail Launch, 1959 |
Throughout its history, the Postal Service enthusiastically has explored faster, more efficient forms of mail transportation. Technologies now commonplace -- railroads, automobiles, and airplanes -- were embraced by the Post Office Department at their radical birth, when they were considered new-fangled, unworkable contraptions by many.
One such technology, however, remains only a footnote in the history of mail delivery. On June 8, 1959, in a move a postal official heralded as "of historic significance to the peoples of the entire world," the Navy submarine U.S.S. Barbero fired a guided missile carrying 3,000 letters at the Naval Auxiliary Air Station in Mayport, Florida. "Before man reaches the moon," the official was quoted as saying, "mail will be delivered within hours from New York to California, to Britain, to India or Australia by guided missiles - missile mail."
History proved differently, but this experiment with missile mail exemplifies the pioneering spirit of the Post Office Department when it came to developing faster, better ways of moving the mail.
The History of the united States Post Office - Table of Contents
Mule Mail - High Tech, Then Low Trek
 |
| Descent into Grand Canyon, Mule Mail |
Arguably the most remote mail route in the country, the Supai route is the last mule train delivery in the United States. The route brings everything from food to furniture to the tiny Havasupai Indian Reservation, consisting of 525 tribal members who live deep below the south rim of the Grand Canyon.
The only way in and out of Supai is an eight-mile trail on foot, mule, or horseback. The first two miles of the trail consist of a dizzying series of switchbacks that careen along the red rock cliffs of the Grand Canyon's shale formation.
Helicopters and air drops are impractical here, so the mule mail train makes the three- to five-hour trip five days a week, even through wind and rain. During a typical week, more than a ton of mail is sent via the mules, with each mule mail animal carrying a cargo of 200 pounds.
The History of the united States Post Office - Table of Contents
Continue with >>> Next Chapter:
ZIP
CODES
