Northwest History. Alaska 7. Aviation Air Mail, United States

• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1938
• Subjects: Juneau; Alaska; dog team; hit-or-miss mail service; Fairbanks; Fred Milligan; the United States; John E. Lamiell; Washington; postoffice department; Pacific Alaska Airways; Pan American Airways; White Horse; Y. T.; the steamer Alaska; Seattle; Yukon trial; Chilkoot pass; Klondike; gold rush; Mendenhall glacier; Seward; Northwest; Pacific > History > 20th century; Chilkoot Pass; Pacific; Yukon; glacier
• Online Access: http://content.libraries.wsu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/clipping/id/89723

Hit-Or-Miss Service Near To Oblivion In The North. Hit-or-Miss Service Near to Oblivion in the North. JUNEAU, Alaska, May 3. (JP) —Dog team days and the former hit-or-miss mail service to the interior jogged closer to oblivion today, with the start of the first government air mail flights to Fairbanks. One of the territory's veteran mushers, Fred Milligan, who carried mail by dog team more than 30 years, was in on the proceedings —invited to make the first flight. Stamp fans and enthusiasts in the United States collecting first covers almost took over the first trip, but there was room enough for one more invited passenger, John E. Lamiell, Washington, representing the postoffice department. Pacific Alaska Airways, Pan American Airways subsidiary, said the 700-mile trip from the southeastern "tip" of Alaska to the interior city would be made in four and a half hours, leaving here at 2:30 p. m. (1:30 p. m., P. S. T.). One Canadian stop will be made, at White Horse, Y. T. Swamped by Mail. The Juneau postoffice's small staff has been almost swamped the last week with first flight covers. The steamer Alaska, inbound from Seattle, was to arrive today before the plane takes off, undoubtedly bringing more business. The flight will be over the old Yukon trail and the Chilkoot pass, gateway to the Klondike, which made history in gold rush days. Soaring up over scenic Mendenhall glacier, the planes will cross the coastal range, whose peaks rise 11,000 feet, in the first seven minute. Weekly service is planned, the first return flight from Fairbanks next Sunday. The mail price is six cents, the same as in the United States. Airplanes for several years have been carrying mail to certain Alaska interior points on contracts won from competing dog team bidders, which operated so-called star routes. During the summer months, however, other mail has been carried by any available means, including by rail along the Alaska railroad belt from Seward to Fairbanks.