Five Tons of Gold Ore Sent By Mail

Anaconda, Montana, 1914--

FIVE TONS OF ORE ARE SENT BY MAIL

BIG CONSIGNMENT COMES FROM IDAHO TO SMELTER

IN FIFTY-POUND PACKAGES

"This isn't an ore bin, it's a post office," shouts Harper as high-grade stuff is brought in -- Believe it first instance on record

What is believed to be the first instance on record of the shipment of ore by parcels post, came to light in Anaconda yesterday when part of a five-ton consignment from W. L. Wright of Elk City, Idaho, to the Washoe smelter, was received at the local post office.

Some time ago Mr. Wright wrote to Ore Buyer Warren Jenney, telling him that he had some ore he wanted sampled. Mr. Jenney replied telling him to send it by parcels post. And Wright did.

Elk City is about 20 miles from the nearest railroad. When Mr. Wright told the postmaster at that place that he was going to send the high-grade gold ore by mail, the government official was a little dubious. He wrote to Washington for advice, and was authorized to hire teams and wagons to haul the ore to the railroad.

The postage on each 50-pound package was 54 cents. Packages up to 50 pounds may be sent any place within a radius of about 150 miles, or in the second zone. Elk City, Idaho, is just inside the second zone from Anaconda. But to get the ore to this city it was necessary to send it to Lewiston, Idaho, and then to Spokane, which is in the third zone.

There are 209 of the 50-pound sacks of gold ore altogether, making a total of 10,450 pounds -- a little more than five tons. Of this, 39 sacks, or almost a ton, have already been received in Anaconda and delivered to the smelter.

--The Anaconda Standard, Anaconda, Montana, March 22, 1914, page 4.