Show rounding hounding out 40 years of mail delivery za ik Z C R christensen one of pioneer citizens is now finishing out his fortieth year as a mail carrier on the star route in in I 1 san juan county he has pioneer ed every route in the county but ore one or e and he carried mail oa 0 i that route in its second year of opera tier hewell he well remembers the time before there the re were any regular regul a r mail m ail services in the county when the mail would accumulate for several weeks until some one would volunteer vol lin to ride with it to the railroad and return with what mail there was for the local residents that was of course long before the time when you could order anything through the mail from an engaged engagement ent ring to day old chicks i most usually the mail could be carried in a light sack over the I 1 front of the saddle saddle at times carriers had special built saddle bags to take care of any surplus that could not be carried in this fashion chris christensen first began to carry the U S malls mails in 1895 when he and nick wilson sub con the route between manti cello and moab from sammy sommerville the schedule called for three deliveries per week mr christensen would ride to the point in dry valley where he would be met ty by mr wilson they would exchange burdens and each retrace his steps wilson going back to moab and christensen to monticello they maintained a continued on pase eight C R christensen continued from pane 1 small pasture at this point where they would get fresh mounts I the next year wilson and chris bid in the contract themselves and put a specially built buckboard into service it had extra wide tires that would not sink too deeply into the sand he hired someone to take his place part of this year while he attended the B Y U at provo but the next year he was again carrying the mail his next contract was after he had married and moved to bluff he contracted to deliver the mail from verdure to bluff and return this proved to be a task at some parts of the year one year in particular that mr christensen recalls when the snows were extra heavy opening the roads between monticello and devil canyon was almost impossible in addition to the mail there had been a death in bluff and an attempt was made to open the road to enable relatives and friends to attend the funeral 13 men with two sleighs one with a team of two horses and the other with six head of horr horses ses planned to follow 43 head of loose horses which were being driven to break the trail ute the snow was so deep that the hordes borges would wo uld bury themselves in oak patches and would have to be finally dug out ty the men eventually the men had to make the original ori ginaJ trail followed by a light team in harns harness only in this manner it took two and one half days to get to devil canyon there was one period of six weeks this same winter when the mail went by horseback as far as verdure and was taken then by a man either on skis or snow shoes from there to devil canyon where he would be met by another horseman to take the mail on south there were no kitchen stoves staves delivered through the mail during that time either ter just about cost C R christensen his life he was wag returning to monticello with a team of six up I 1 four horses and 2 mules on a bob 1 1 s sleigh leigh the winds had whipped the another experience of that win roads full of snow until progress even with an empty sleigh was i very slow at devil canyon C R could see that another s torm storm was coming and decided to abandon the alei sleigh 11 h there and try to make it on into verdure riding one of the mules which was a good animal in the snow before they had gone far however the snow and wind began and soon it was more than the mule could buck in some instances C R would break trail himself leading the mule and the other five animals in this way he became wet to the crotch and F i got so tired and stiff that he could hardly force his way ahead intense darkness added to the misery I 1 and hazard he and his animals fought the snow and drifts until they reached the top of the hill I 1 south of verdure when they came to snow that was less deep the horses limbed past him leaving I 1 him alone and so near exhaustion that he would have perished if help had not come when his horses came to the barton ranch in verdure the barking of the dogs roused morgan barton upon investigation vesti gation he found the horses which he recognized and started back up the trail where he met C R and helped him on into the ranch where the women of the household helped to revive him at th the state convention in 1938 of star route carriers it was established that C R christensen was the oldest man at the convention in point of service it seems likely that if he were the oldest some twelve years ago he would be the oldest yet with that many more years ad added ded to his cr credit edit the first motor vehicle was introduced trod to san juans mail routes in 1914 when a hard tired chain drive truck was put to use by mr christensen between thompsons Thomp sons and monticello by having teams stationed at the worst vorst sandy patches to pull the truck through 4 the trip was made from thompson in a day chris has held contracts with J T pehrson and noel sitton as partners and at one time held the contracts both between bluff ani monticello and dove creek and monticello he is currently carrying the mail on the east route going as far as summit point carrying the mail has by no means been the total of mr christ eisens experiences he served as deputy sheriff under both willard butt and parley butt and as sheriff in his own right and has had some thrilling experiences he has also served as assessor for san juan county it has been a long and career at 75 C R looks fo corvi to the next four years of his caf c tract with uncle sam as a star route carrier |