Friday, Apr. 09, 2010

Twist in Time: Gold Rush mail had to go through

After news of the discovery of gold in California worked the nation up into a frenzy, prospectors came by the thousands to work the mines. At first their only concern was finding "color," but after awhile, they began to get homesick. That's when Alexander Todd came up with his idea to start his jackass express.

The gold rush mail had to go through

It all started for Todd when he got homesick himself. He was certain that there was mail for him in San Francisco, so he determined to go and fetch it. Before he went, however, he toured the other camps and registered those miners who also wanted to hear from home.

Todd left the hills, and as he passed through Stockton, the merchants there contracted with him to carry their gold dust to San Francisco. When he agreed, they deposited $150,000 in a butter bag and sent the homesick mailman on his way. He wasn't so despondent, however, that he couldn't charge them 5 percent for his service.

When he arrived in San Francisco, Todd was sworn in as an official mail carrier, and paid the post office 25 cents for every letter they were holding. Then he packed up his load on a whaleboat and headed across the bay. To help defray cost, he took on passengers and charged them an ounce of gold apiece, provided they each manned an oar. Upon reaching the east side of the bay, he transferred his mailbags onto mules and took his precious cargo to the isolated miners in the mountains.

Todd was a welcome sight back in the mining camps--so welcome that the miners were willing to pay $4 for every letter delivered. It wasn't long before Todd employed a host of bright, young fellows and expanded his "jackass express," as it came to be known.

In an enterprising twist in time, once that happened, the young argonaut laid down his pick and shovel and opened a branch post office in the mines. From that point on, thanks to the entrepreneurial nature of Alexander Todd, whenever those isolated 49'ers got homesick they were able to cure it at Todd's place, the first post office in the California gold fields.