On October 1, 1896, rural free deliver (RFD) began in Charles Town, Halltown and Uvilla in West Virginia. Within a year, 44 routes were operating in 29 states. Thus began a six-year experiment in rural delivery. Over 10,000 petitions were sent to the Postal Service asking that routes be established. Rural free delivery spurred road improvements since passable roads were a requirement of the service.
In 1901 Postal officials decided a standardized box would improve service. Manufactures were asked to design boxes to the following specifications:
* The box must be made of metal, 6 x 8 x 18 inches, and weather-proof.
* Boxes should be constructed so they can be fastened to a post at a height convenient to the carrier without alighting.
* Keys for customers’ boxes should be easy to use by a carrier with “one gloved hand in the severest weather.” (Locks on rural mailboxes have always been optional: initially carriers used master keys to open locked boxes. Since May 1981, rural carriers deliver mail into locked boxes through slots.)
Can you help us out? Our neighbor George and his family are very reclusive and live back in the woods. Find stage 1 to get the coordinates for delivering their mail.
Cache is placed with the landowners' permission. Land is part the Wisconsin Forest Law Program and is "open" to the public. Open designation allows public access to the property only for hunting, fishing, sight-seeing and cross-country skiing without additional permission from the landowners. The landowners' grant additional premission to geocacher to search for caches.
A trail map of the property, with parking locations can be downloaded here: Link to trail map. Please, do not park on the gravel road.
BYOP