Think about the wagon trains and the Pony Express. Towns were spaced across the United States so persons traveling by horse or wagon would have a place to stop every few days for food, water & supplies.
Next we had the building of the railroads. Where the railroad tracks were laid was very important as towns near the tracks grew and those that weren’t on or near the newly built rail lines started to die off.
Then the interstate highways were built which caused fewer people to drive on smaller highways and back roads. Along the exits of the interstate highways new chain businesses started to crop up: self-service fuel stations with food marts, restaurants (McDonald's & Denny’s) and motel’s (Motel 6, Super 8 & Holiday Inn). Small businesses such as cafés, full service gas stations, hardware stores and small town motels started to disappear. Without the traffic passing through small towns it wasn’t long before the landscape stated to change and more small towns were dying off.
Now we have the internet (Facebook & Twitter) and this Blog I’m posting to and you’re reading. These types of internet media are starting to have effects on small towns and not always for the better.
Below is a list of forty-one Post Offices in Oregon the US Postal Service is proposing to close this year (2012). Over the past 30 years I have traveled through many of these rural towns but now I think of them differently.
CITY ZIP CODE
ADEL 97620
ANTELOPE 97001
AROCK 97902
BROTHERS 97712
CRANE 97732
DREWSEY 97904
DURKEE 97905
FORT KLAMATH 97626
FORT ROCK 97735
GRASS VALLEY 97029
HARPER 97906
HELIX 97835
HEREFORD 97837
IMNAHA 97842
JAMIESON 97909
JUNTURA 97911
KENT 97033
KIMBERLY 97848
NEW PINE CREEK 97635
OXBOW 97840
PAULINA 97751
POST 97752
RILEY 97758
RUFUS 97050
SENECA 97873
SHANIKO 97057
SUMMER LAKE 97640
SUNRIVER 97707
UKIAH 97880
UNITY 97884
WESTFALL 97920
AGNESS 97406
BROADBENT 97414
CASCADIA 97329
DEADWOOD 97430
GARDINER 97441
SWISSHOME 97480
TILLER 97484
WALTON 97490
EDDYVILLE 97343
IDANHA 97350
Who knows how many will actually be eliminated but regardless it sad news as rural Post Offices are part of our history.
During the spring and summer of 2012 I will be riding my motorcycle or driving our car to visit all forty-one of these Post Offices plus other small Post Offices along the way. I hope to visit with the locals who would be effected by these closures. I want to see how these towns/areas look now and then watch what changes happen if they do lose their Post Office.
I will be posting my travels on this Blog so I hope you enjoy following along as I travel to all corners of Oregon.
You can read more about the Post Office closues at this link:
http://www.savethepostoffice.com/about
Below are Google Earth images of all the routes combined and the individual routes I plan to take in my quest to visit all these Post Offices.
All the routes on one map:
One Day Trip:
Three Day Trip:
Five Day Trip:
Two or Three Day Trip:
Two Day Trip:
Great goal for the riding season. How many will we check off in July?
ReplyDeleteLooks like there will be 8 or 9 Post Offices on the list that we'll pass by on our ride this July. Hopefully they will all still be open by then.
ReplyDeleteMake that 12 post offices. A couple are out of the way (Helix & Imnaha) so I can ride to those two post offices alone and catch up with you if necessary.
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