The following appeared in The Rock County Herald on Jan. 17, 1902.
Rural Route Established
Will Begin Operations First of March
Hon. Gilbert Gutterson, Special Agent of the Department, Goes Over the Route and Makes Appointment of Carrier and Substitute—Route Will be Twenty-Five Miles Long and Will Serve More Than One Hundred Families.
The first rural free delivery route to be established in this county will begin operations about the first of March.
Hon. Gilbert Gutterson, of Lake Crystal, Minn., special agent of the department of rural free delivery, arrived in Luverne according to appointment Tuesday morning from Sioux Falls and in the afternoon went over the route proposed in the petition seat to Washington some months ago. He found that the proposed route exceeded in length that permitted by the regulations of the post office department and made the necessary reduction, adhering in the main in other respects to the original route. Mr. Gutterson appointed Horace Goodale as carrier and James Jack as substitute carrier and received their bonds and oaths.
The route as established may be described as follows: Beginning at the postoffice in Luverne and thence to the southwest corner of section 3, Luverne township, on the section line. Following the road the route runs north one mile, thence one mile west and one mile north to the Dennis McCarthy corner at the northeast of section 33, Mound township. The route continues west two miles to the Quindland farm, thence north to Brandenberg’s corner and west two miles past the Ellithorpe place to the Roach farm in Springwater township. From the latter point the route runs one mile north to the northeast corner of section 23, Springwater, and thence west two miles in the Pengra school house, south one mile to the southeast corner of section 21 and west one mile to the most extreme northwest point reached by the route. The direction of the route thenceforth is south two miles, east two miles, south one mile, and thence east six miles to the point of beginning. At the Pengra school house and at the southeast corner of section 20, Springwater government collection boxes will be located in addition to the mail boxes provided by the patrons of the route. The route is the limit of 25 miles permitted by the government, will reach 107 families and an estimated population of 482. A request had been made that the route be extended to the Springwater townline on the west, but such an extension would have made the length of the route too great and Mr. Gutterson was compelled to refuse the request.
The sum now allowed for carrying the mail is $500, but it is expected that this allowance will be increased to $600 soon. It is also anticipated that the carrier will be placed under the civil service law.
Mr. Gutterson forwarded his reports to the department at Washington immediately upon the completion of his work, and when his appointments and reports have been accepted the postmaster at Luverne will be directed to begin operations. The carrier will leave this office at about 8 o’clock in the morning, taking with him the mail that arrived during the day and night previous and a supply of money order blanks, stamps and other supplies. The service of the carrier except as to money orders, will be the same as that given at the post office.
It is understood that the mail boxes purchased by persons on the line of the route some months ago will be acceptable to the government.
There are fourteen styles of mail boxes permitted by the department.
Mr. Gutterson went from here to Madelia, to establish a route. Next month he will attend a session of the special agents which is to be held at Denver, Colo., the headquarters of the western division. He states that 300 petitions are now pending in this state, one-half of which were filed previous to the application from Rock county.
Donations to the Rock County Historical Society can be sent to the Rock County Historical Society, 312 E. Main Street, Luverne, MN 56156.
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