The Mail Finally Comes to the Skagit
After months of persistent advocacy and cartographic lobbying by Edward McTaggart, the Skagit Valley secures its first semi-weekly mail route.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Steamship mail service will be put on the Skagit river, commencing Monday next. This is a service that has been needed for several years past, and the people living along the route may consider themselves under obligations to that indefatigable worker, Mr. Edward McTaggart, for the final consummation of the project. In the month of September last, McTaggart drew up a petition praying for semi-weekly mail service from Mukilteo in Snohomish county, via Stanwood, Utsalady, Fir, Skagit City and Mt. Vernon in Whatcom county, giving a statement of the farming and lumbering products of the Skagit valley. Mr. McTaggart then drew a map of the Puget Sound country, showing the Seattle and Whatcom route, with the post offices therein traced out in red ink, and the proposed route from Mukilteo to Mt. Vernon traced in blue. The petition and plat were forwarded to the Postmaster General in March last, and the prayer of the petition was granted at once.
“Hence, Mr. McTaggart's untiring energies have succeeded in accomplishing an object long sought for.”
In 1883, securing a post route was a Herculean task requiring hand-drawn maps and political petitioning; today, the 'last mile' of delivery is a multi-billion dollar logistical challenge, though the Skagit Valley remains a vital agricultural and residential artery.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.