Motor Trucks Used on Mail Routes.
Motor trucks are fast taking the place of wagon stages on the inland mail lines in the sparsely settled districts of the Northwest where there are villages still distant fifty, seventy-five, and even one hundred miles from the railroad. The drivers of the trucks in making their trips over the lonely prairies—miles from towns—have a variety of experiences, as does also Uncle Sam’s mail.
Sixteen pouches of mail, including several sacks of women’s hats, lay out on the prairie during the night following the burning of the truck that carries the mail between Williston, N. D., and Watford, a distance of forty-five miles.
It was past midnight, the car was ten miles out of Watford, and the mail ten hours overdue, when, in cranking up, the engine fired back and the car caught fire. The mail was barely saved.
The driver walked in ten miles, carrying the locked pouch of registered mail and leaving the rest on the prairie for the night.