| Show postal service in basin B as in faced tough editors editor s noie nole with the advent this year of airmail service wo the uintah basin and the assurance of house to tio house mail mall delivery in vernal ii it is timely to read of the hardships of mail service to this area in its early days by harold E hullinger in a book edited by reed morrill we find many interesting fact pertaining to the experiences perien ces of the early settlers receiving their mail in the beginning when there were but a few people in ashley valley i it t was difficult to get any mail into the settlement especially during the winter when there were several feet of snow to block the mountain passes the first post office was located at ashley fork installed there in 1877 78 by 1879 they were bringing in mail from browns park over the mountain doring the month of december it i terrible snow storm closed all the roads five different men tried lo 10 make the tho trip to brown s park for the mail mall two of them froze their deot and almost lost their li lives ilves ves I 1 peter 1 e t er dil Dill dilloian iman nian fi finally na 1 made the return trip and the settlers persuaded him to con inac to carry earry tile mail all the winter he ile used snow shoes in crossing the mountain C W britt was the first postmaster in ashley valley it was in 1888 that thomas mitchell asked for permission to open the post office in what is now vernal he ili requested the name of ashley center permission for the office was granted but the fourth assistant postmaster general suggested the name of vernal this change was accepted by mr mitchell and the resident of the locality thus the town of vernal was named at that time the settlers increased rapidly and improvements were made accordingly though the roads were wore in little better condition than were trails and almost impassable during the spring and w v n er every effort was made to have regular mail brought into the valley mr morrill tells us that in 1894 mail was being delivered every 36 hours by 1901 contracts called for mail to come from price seven t times i mes a wee week k i u i known method of travel was made maae use of from snow s shoes shoos h 0 e s h horses 0 rs es s stage t age boac coach h an and d wagons to cars and trucks until 1915 it was only letters and papers that were brought by mail everything else came with the i f freight re ih t teams I 1 changes noted it is interesting to follow I 1 changes made by the mail carriers at first as stated above t the h e tila mail maii il was brought from B brown rown s par nar park parr k then as different roads were developed and improved p it was chan changed g ed fr from 0 m 0 one n e direction to another coming at different times from dragon price rice helper and at last salt lake city varied and colorful were the experiences of these pioneer I 1 mail men but thru mud snow wind and rough roush roads the mail bame came thru and the people gathered at the post office to j visit and discuss conditions and how to improve them many interesting stories have been printed of these heroic deeds and men office locations th the e fir first s t pos post t 0 office afi ce was 1 I 1 located at ashley fork then it was changed to vernal where it was kept in connection with a mercantile business and later adrig a drug store it was then put into a small smail building where the bank of vernal now sfa sta stands nat when t the he town expanded and new buildings were erected round around if it the post office was moved into the space occupied until recently by the farmers farm ers market and the old house where it was before e ore I 1 it was m moved ve aw away ay in 1924 a new federal building ng was arec erected t e d an and d a all ail ll 11 governmental offices moved into it pontha calder present present postmaster explains that vernal is now a g second 1 e cond class post office resident residents have daily dally m mail maii a I 1 I 1 sonvico i ce f from rom S salt sait a 1 t lake city and six times a week from crain craig only this summer daily airmail service from salt lake city and rock springs wyo has been effected parcel post ba has been delivered since 1915 it was in 1916 when the parcel post service v i ce ran 1 alto its greatest test in that year the local bank of vernal was shipped in by parcel post each brick was wrapped separately and and ind the distance traveled was miles as asit it had luid to come by way or dracon dragon n on ard then on freight wagons cars trucks and every other available means it so comP completely latelY tied up the mail mall t that it was necessary nece iary for congress to enact a new la law w limiting any one shipment to pounds per day and any one ono package to 70 pounds vernal had grown so large by 1901 1001 that two rural routes were opened with william stone on route toute I 1 and L pack on route 2 in 1005 mr stone iott loft this oils employment and the mail was carried by tile the late david L richards wiio wilo remained on his hig route until his full 26 25 years were comp completed feted and he was given a pension by the government in 1910 1010 It richard ichard jensen was given kiven tho the route and he also completed the full 25 years during this time every kno bno known wn method of travel was used to got the mail mall to the outlying dis dl ricas but the two faithful post men made their rounds sometimes returning home late at night As the roads were improved conditions better bettered eid eld the tho work was easier until the tho present time when cars cats nrc arc used on well graded and hard surfaced roads and the mall mail is delivered in a few hours M much uc h cre credit dit Is due the p persi tant men who have watched the A ashley shley volley valley grow from a desert waste to a lovely homo for thousands thou sands of people |
