The Battle for Mail Service in White Bluffs
Patrons of the former post office site face a bureaucratic maze as the Department offers three distinct, and potentially inadequate, solutions for mail delivery.
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.
The Post Office Department, through Inspector Rowan, has notified the White Bluffs postmaster that patrons living near the former post office location and those on the east side of the Columbia River may choose between three plans: establish a new post office, install individual mailboxes along the Star route from White Bluffs to Hanford, or form a Rural Free Delivery system if sufficient families join. To establish a new office, residents must suggest names unlike any other in the state and designate candidates for postmaster. However, residents fear these options are inferior to the current informal arrangement where the White Bluffs Inn handles the mail. Objections include the infrequency of the proposed three-day-a-week delivery and the fear that accepting these alternatives will sabotage future efforts to secure a proper, permanent Rural Free Delivery route.
“The principal requirement for the securing of rural free delivery is that the proposed route be at least 16 miles long, with an average of four families to the mile.”
This dispute reflects the enduring struggle for infrastructure in rural Washington. Much like today's concerns over 'last mile' delivery or broadband access in remote areas, the residents of White Bluffs were balancing the immediate convenience of a local innkeeper against the rigid, standardized requirements of a distant federal agency.
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