Page:History of Goodhue County, Minnesota.djvu/363

 HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY 299 lished for the first time an announcement for the Red Wing post- office, under date of January 21, 1859, there appearing, in the "Goodhue County Republican," the following: Red Wing Post-Office. Hours of Delivery of Mail. On Sundays from 9 to 10 a. m. On week days from 7 to 8 p. m. Hours of Arrival and Departure and the time of Closing Mails. Red Wing to La Crosse, — Leaves daily (now) at 3 :30 p. m. Ar- rives six times a week at 3:30 a. m. The Great Eastern and Southern mails are carried on this route. Mails close at 2 :00 p. m. Red Wing and Saint Paul, — Leaves daily on the arrival of the Eastern stages at 3 :30 a. m. Mails close at 9 :00 the previous evening. Red Wing to Cannon Falls and Le Sueur, — Leaves Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, at 8 :00 a. m. Arrives Tuesday, Thurs- day and Saturday. Mails close at 8 :00 the previous evening. Red Wing to Owatonna and Blue Earth City, — Leaves Monday and Thursday at 7 :00 a. m. Arrives Wednesday and Saturday at 6 :00 p. m. Mail closes at 8 :00 the previous evening. Red Wing to St. Nicholas, — Leaves Monday and Thursday at 8 :00 a. m. Arrives Wednesday and Saturday at 5:00 p. m. Mail closes at 8 :00 the previous evening. Red Wing to Winona, — Leaves Monday and Thursday at 6:00 a, m. Arrives Thursday and Saturday at 6:00 p. m. This route supplies all way offices on the river. Mail closes at 8 :00 the previous evening. Red Wing to Saint Paul. — Leaves Wednesday at 8 :00 a. m. Ar- rives Tuesday at 6:00 p. in. This route supplies way offices. Mail closes at 8:00 the previous evening. Red Wing to Mazeppa and Oronoco, — Leaves Monday at 8 :00 a. m. Arrives Tuesday at 6:00 p. m. Mail closes at 8:00 the previous evening. Remember that all mail matter to be sent to any part of the United States must be fully prepaid. In prepaying foreign let- ters by affixing stamps, be careful to ascertain the correct amount of postage before mailing. Anything less than the full amount of postage counts nothing, and is lost to the sender. It will be seen from this that the stage coach lines had now come into general use in the mail-carrying capacities and Red Wing, being one of the chief distributing points along the river and the headquarters for a number of stage lines mining into the interior country, a considerable quantity of mail in transit must have been brought through here. Captain David Hancock — Uncle David, as he was then known and as he is still affection- ately termed — was a pioneer in this mail service. In 1855 he car- ried the mail between Red Wing and Frontenac, supplying Wa- coota en route, giving service once a week. Later this route was extended to include Lake City and Reeds landing, the packet steamers plying in those days refusing to stop at those points.