Thought this might be of interest to some of you. Judy CARRYING THE MAIL In about 1928 the government put out for bid a mail route that ran from the Imo Post office to the Bear Creek Post Office. My grandfather, Toby Lonzo Holsted, who lived near Welcome Home at the time, bid $30 a month and got the route. In order to qualify he had to get five men to sign a bond for him so in the event he took something from the mail these men would be responsible and have to repay the government. The Imo post office was located about one mile from the Welcome Home school house on Hwy 27. The post office was orginally named Atlas but there was another Atlas post office in Arkansas so the government sent word for them to change the name of the post office because the mail was getting mixed up. Luther Phillips, who was the postmaster at the time, had a niece named Imogene and he called the post office Imo after her. Old Man Hollaway was the postmaster before Luther. Luther was his nephew and took over from him when he was unable to continue as postmaster. The post office was just a small one room building and the postmaster lived in his house just a short distance away. The mail route ran along Hwy 27 three or four miles and then at what was known as the low gap the route cut off . It continued along what was known as the low gap road. The first six or seven miles of the road were just hills, not really steep. Then just about one mile past the Oak Hill school house near where Arney and Matt Ward lived the road started down the mountain. It was really steep in places. The entire route was about 10-12 miles long. About the last five miles were straight down the mountain to Bear Creek, and on the return trip, it was five miles up the mountain. It took at least 5-6 hours most days to ride the route both ways. And they did indeed ride. No cars or pickups back then. Although my grandfather did the bidding it was mostly my dad, Arlin Holsted, who carried the mail. He was about 15 when he started and did it for about 4 years. They used a horse at first and then later got a mule named Bert because he was more sure footed on the steep roads. As Dad started down the mountain he would have to get off and walk because it was too steep to ride, he did the same thing on the way back up as he got near the top of the mountain. My grandmother, Mary Ellen Harness Holsted, also carried the mail a few times, but after they got the mule she refused to do it because the mule was mean. My dad started at the Imo Post Office and took the few letters that people had mailed there on to the Bear Creek Post Office. Then as he went along the route he picked up the mail "pokes". These were simply small cloth bags that had the names on them. They were called pokes because that is the old English name for a cloth bag. We have all heard about buying 'a pig in a poke' meaning buying something sight unseen. This area was very isolated and many of the eighteenth century English words survived unchanged by modern usage until the 1940's and 50's. Each family had a specific place for their poke to hang, usually a post or even a tree limb. There were no mail boxes. Families might live a half mile or more down in a canyon or up the mountain from where the poke was left. It had to be left on the route so it could be picked up and brought back. The pokes would not have much in them going to Bear Creek, just a few letters usually. There were maybe 15-20 families along the route. Several families of Wards and Hortons, Lathams, Thompsons, Suggs, Robert Housley, Lonnie and Walter Holsted among others. At the post office in Bear Creek, which was located on Hwy 27, the pokes were given to the postmaster who emptied them and refilled them with whatever mail each family had. The route was then repeated in the other direction and each poke was returned to its usual place with its mail. This route was done three days a week on Monday, Thursday and Saturday. At least once or twice a month Dad had to take the hack (a hack is just a little bigger than a buggy) because there would be a big load of mail order catalogs to deliver and they were heavy. Because there were no stores in the area, everyone ordered from catalogs, especially women's clothes. The packages mailed in response to the catalog orders were delivered in the same manner as other mail. When he used the hack he took the same route up and down the mountain. The road was just wide enough for a wagon or hack to get through. Even though there were two mules pulling the hack he would still have to get out and walk on the steepest parts. Going up the mountain he would also have to stop and let the mules rest on the way to the top. There were a couple of places where the road crossed Bear Creek and Crooked Branch Creek. There were not any bridges so the creeks had to be forded at a low place. This was the case both riding and driving the hack. The route had to be done no matter what the weather. Dad says he carried the mail at least once when it was 20 degrees below zero. When it was really cold, he would stop at Arney Ward's house and warm up before finishing the route. If this sounds like an incredible amount of work for a very small amount of money remember this was just as the depression started and $30 was a lot of cash money. There were families who didn't make over $100 cash money for the entire year. This was really a very good job to have at that time from the money standpoint. Compiled by Judy Holsted Oldziewski from conversations with Toby Lonzo Holsted, Mary Ellen Harness Holsted and mostly Arlin Holsted. Copyright 1997. The communities listed in the above story are all located in Searcy County, Arkansas. The nearest town is Marshall, which is also the county seat. All the post offices are long gone and the Welcome Home school house is now a country store.