Railway Postal clerks soon become inured to their work, which is hard and exacting. A wreck or a washout, while wonderfully infrequent, is a part of the job. Probably for these reasons, only a few railway postal clerks have offered contributions to our story. We would have been glad to include many more. Possibly they will compile a story of their own. If they should, do not fail to read it, for it will surely be replete with human interest as the following will prove: 

   “Friday, Nov. 4th, I went to work as usual not realizing that the rains of Thursday had been extremely heavy. At the post office I was questioned as to what I was going to do and how far I was going. As I had no definite information as to conditions, I answered that I should go as far as the train went. I got my registers as usual and went to the railroad station and began work. Nothing was said about the train not going out that morning and I completed the distribution of mail already in the car. Leaving time came and still no report as to the departure of the train. At 10:40 A. M. the conductor told me the train was annulled but as to what might be done later he could not say. The engine was kept on the train till 1:00 P. M. but still no definite report. About 3:00 P. M. it was announced that all trains over the Claremont Branch were cancelled and that a bus would take important mail and passengers. All pouches were locked out and dispatched and at 3:40 P. M. transfer clerk receipted for registers and I left the car. From there I went to the St. Albans & Boston car and did what I could to assist that crew. 

   "Saturday A. M. I reported to the post office at the usual time and after some talk it was arranged that I go to Claremont on a truck with mail for offices on the line and to deliver registered mail. The trip was without any extraordinary happening and afforded no view of the flooded area. Sunday morning I went to the post office again for news and obtained the first real information as to the area and location of the flooded districts. Leaving there I went again to the station to see what conditions were and was called on to go to Plymouth on an extra by the transfer clerk. Monday morning train service was resumed over the Claremont Branch and for two days the train went to Windsor, Vt. 

   "My greatest and most lasting impression of this catastrophe was of the quickness in organizing motor transportation for passengers, mail and express. Without this, the privations would surely have been much greater and the work of reconstructing telephone and telegraph lines, and communication in all ways, would have been delayed. Through this period, I simply did my duty." 

     Clerk running between St. Albans, Vt. and Rouses Point, N. Y. reports,—"Nothing out of the ordinary except having to carry .registered mail on my back for half a mile at Rouses Point with no friend but my gun. Other nights at St. Albans, with registered mail so heavy I could not carry it, I had to devise my own means of getting to the post office." 

     A Railway Postal Clerk stranded in Newport, Vt. contributes the pictures below. 

     A clerk on the Alburg & Albany RPO reports : 

   "I left Burlington, Vt. at 3: 40 P. M. Nov. 3 in Alb. & Alb. 56. Although it had been raining hard all day, arrived at Brandon, Vt. only 30 minutes late, where I was told that there was high water at Proctor and we would be held up for a short time. About 7 P. M. the operator said the train would start in an hour. That was the last information about train service I had until next morning. Beds were made up and my brother clerk and I slept in the car until the next morning. When we went up town for breakfast, we heard of the damage done and that there would be no trains for a week. 

   "As the busses were running between Rutland and Burlington, on Saturday my companion turned the mail over to me and went home. Sunday morning, I got in communication with the chief clerk's office in White River Junction and was told that I might close out the pouches and turn the mail over to the Railroad Company. I did so and at 10: 30 A. M. was ready to start for home. I caught the bus for Rutland and arrived there about 11: 30 A. M. Here I found that the only way to go south was via Whitehall and the D. & H. After dinner I took the Gus to Center Rutland, crossed Otter Creek on a temporary foot bridge and by walking and catching rides reached Whitehall in time to get a train for Troy. Arrived in Troy at 5:30 P. M. There were no trains over the Rutland Road, but a large truck from Bennington was there loading mails for that office. They invited me to ride to Bennington, from which a taxi brought me home to S. Shaftsbury. 1 arrived at 9 P. M. with just enough money left to pay the taxi driver. 

   "The following Sunday night I went back to Troy:, N. Y. on the bus and worked in a car at the station with other clerks. We worked from 6 A. M. to 5 P. M. making pouches and sacks to be forwarded by Rouses Point & Albany and Rutland & Troy. Also some directs were sent to Bennington County via the Bennington truck. 

   "The next week service was reestablished on the Rutland Railroad between Bennington and Burlington. 

   "I did not see any heroic act done; all I saw was each one doing his bit to get the mail service back to normal. 

   "The assistant postmaster and a carrier from the Bennington Post Office made two trips a day to Troy for the mail. 

   "As for me I didn't even get my feet wet." 

     A clerk on the Newport, Vt., & Springfield, Mass. RPO offers the following: 

   "Arrived at Newport in train 79 on morning of the 3d in a heavy downpour. By afternoon all train service in and out of Newport was annulled. Telegraph and telephone wires were down and all the news we had came over the radio. The following Wednesday I heard that a tram was leaving Island Pond; 22 miles away, for Boston. I made this train the next morning and arrived at my home in Springfield, Mass., nine days after starting out on train 79. Our run calls for two days, or rather nights, for this round trip."

     A clerk on the St. Albans & Boston RPO caught in the flood makes a report: 
On November 3d we reached White River Junction on train 305. About on time, we left the Junction only a little late and at South Royalton were told that the southbound mail, No.332, was held at Roxbury on account of high water: Our train proceeded to Randolph where we were sidetracked and told by the station agent we would remain until it stopped raining. Would it ever stop? It soon developed that the train would not move again that day. We passed the night as best we could in the RPO car. In the morning we found our worst fears confirmed: Randolph was badly wrecked, wires down; the railroads, highways and bridges were hopelessly out of commission. 

   "To show how people unconsciously  rely  on the post office, I will report  a little incident at Randolph: — At the telephone office a lady had been told that the wires were all down and that telephone service was impossible; therefore, she proceeded to the telegraph office where the operator had the same discouraging story,—Wires all down; no trains, no highways, no bridges, everything at a standstill. The lady stood nonplussed for a moment and then brightened up with,—I know what I'll do; I'll go right over to the post office and send a postcard.' 

   "Saturday a railway postal clerk on the southbound train marooned at Roxbury came through on a truck to Randolph. He returned to his train Saturday carrying mail for Roxbury and Braintree. Monday morning one of the clerks in our crew had a chance to ride a mail truck to White River Junction; we wished him good luck and bon voyage. 

   "On Tuesday we had the promise of a ride to Burlington or St. Albans; but the relief automobiles had more passengers than they could carry so we still had to stand by. We finally arranged with a man to take us home in his car. Workmen on the road asked us where we were going; we replied, 'Burlington or St. Albans.'  'We wish you luck, but you’ll never make it,' came the reply. 

   "However, we reached Montpelier that day where we found our chief clerk very much on the job. The next morning, armed with a permit from the State Highway Department, we started for St. Albans. At Jeffersonville I left my companion and rode a mail truck to my home in Burlington which I reached one week after we became stranded at Randolph. My brother clerk continued in the auto to St. Albans. 

     At Middlesex we saw where the flood had carried the post office to destruction down the river. In fact, the whole route showed immense toll taken by the flood. Our post office traveling commissions were honored without question wherever presented, which was necessarily quite often. Policemen, military guards and state highway officials treated us with great courtesy and helpfulness." 

     We will here depart from our original plan and include a story of a railway postal clerk not on duty, or as we express it, on his "lay-off": 

   "I was with my family at Johnson, Vt. and we were all trapped in our home (six of us.) Just as the water reached the top floor of house, my wife, and foIks with us, tied my four-year old son on my shoulders with a sheet, and I jumped out from the top window into the flood and tried to swim to shore, about 150 feet away. I was barefooted and in my underclothes, the night black; and raining torrents. The weight of my little boy was too much for my strength. I could not make the shore so turned and swam back again to the top window. I got one hand hold of the window casing, then in trying to obtain a toehold, cut my feet wickedly on the glass in the window directly underneath. Willing hands at the window untied my boy and pulled me into the house in an exhausted condition, our lives saved by a matter of a few seconds. After a while, the neighbors built a raft, and a world-war veteran came to get us out one at a time. The hired girl was the first to be rescued, then they came for my wife; just as she stepped down from the window, the raft moved away, and she fell into the water. The man outside of the building caught the window sill with one hand and my wife with the other and, reaching down, I caught her wrist and with the aid of the third man who was in the house, we pulled her up and inside. The man on the raft was all in when we got him into the house. 

   "The worst was yet to come. When the raft was made fast to the house; my wife stepped onto it and was started for the shore. The house was wobbling and the barn, which was up stream attached to the house, broke away from the house just as my wife was being ferried across. She got ashore just in time to escape the barn which floated by the house in her path. Finally, all six of us were taken out on the raft to safety, I carrying the little boy in my arms. Then the house started to float away but lodged in an apple tree. We were thankful to God to remain alive. Three weeks later my wife gave birth to a strong, healthy girl baby. I was incapacitated for duty for three weeks on account of injuries sustained November third." 

     A clerk on the Boston & Troy RPO ran into trouble at North Adams: 

   "On Friday, Nov. 4, Boston & Troy 57 arrived at North Adams in late evening. Train was annulled there, track being washed out and bridges gone at several points west.  On leaving the mail car we heard sounds of rushing water and soon saw water covering the tracks around the station. Water was in the main streets of the city, and a boat tied to a telephone pole, was used for ferrying people across the streets. Mud and debris were everywhere. Boats and taxi cabs were the only means of crossing the principal streets of North Adams. We went to a restaurant, but found no water there for cooking or drinking; water everywhere but not a drop to drink or to cook with. We managed fairly well with beans and milk; found a place to put up for the night, retired in due time with the sound of rushing water in our ears, but no clean water to wash our hands or faces. On our return next day, conditions were better." 

     A clerk due to run between Springfield, Mass. and White River Junction, Vt. takes up a new assignment: 

   "I arrived at White River Junction on Nov 3, 1927, in Newport & Springfield RPO train 717 around 8:10 P. M. and did not go back to Springfield, Mass. until Nov 15 on train 712, this being the first train that was run between White River Junction and Springfield after Nov 3. 

   "On Nov. 7, I was ordered to go on a truck from White River Junction to Bellows Falls with orders .to stop at all intervening post offices for the purpose of delivering and receiving mail. This I did for five consecutive days, making the trip in about thirteen hours. The roads along this trip were in very good condition with the exception of one detour of about three miles over a narrow, hilly and rough road, on account of high water on the main road. 

   "The mails in and out of White River Junction by the aid of trucks and through the very efficient service of the officials and clerk of the Railway Mail Service at White River Junction were at all times kept on the move and at no time did I notice any congestion of the mails." 

     The mail transfer clerk at Burlington, Vt. makes a few comments: 

   "The very heavy rainfall of Nov. 3 and 4 did not attract much attention here and we did not realize the serious conditions until trains were being annulled and no trains arrived or left the station during the afternoon of Nov. 4. We awoke on the morning of the 5th to find ourselves cut off from the world completely. Fortunately, the Chateaugay (Champlain Transportation Co. steamer) had not been laid up although it had stopped making regular trips. The manager of the Lake Transportation Co. agreed to put ihe steamer into service until the crisis was over. On the morning of Nov. 5, the boat service was begun and transfer clerk went to Port Kent where he got in touch with chief clerks from Albany. Arrangements were made to have mail for Burlington and vicinity dispatched via Port Kent, and trucks were engaged to transport mail from Port Kent Station to steamer dock. Registered mail was exchanged with Rouses Point & Albany Trains 1, 3 and 6. For 18 days this service continued without interruption until the Rutland Railroad was in running order. 

   "During this time not only was regular mail received and dispatched from Burlington with only half a day's delay, but also money in large amounts was safely transported, making possible the reconstruction work and the Red Cross activities. As Port Kent is a small station, it was necessary to send over clerks to load and unload trains and storage cars. Five to six clerks were sent across the lake each day to do this work. On Nov. 22 service was resumed on the Rutland Railroad, much to the relief of all."

  "The flood came during my lay-off. From the night of Thursday, Nov. 3, until the following Monday, Rutland was isolated as bridges on all roads were gone. Tuesday, the 8th, I called upon the Inspector at the post office. Arrangements were made to operate trucks to Whitehall for railroad connection, also a truck to Manchester, Vt., beginning the same date. I was in charge of the latter truck; deliveries made on down trip, outgoing mail collected on return trip; local exchanges made both ways. This service lasted through the 19th, after which RPO train service to Bennington was established; truck service from there to Troy. On the 26th normal service between Troy and Burlington was resumed. From Nov. 11th RPO service from Troy over to Rutland & Troy became operative, thus effecting earlier service than via Whitehall." 

     Another railway postal clerk, evidently not given to verbosity, in reply to the item in a questionnaire,— "What happened where you were?" —replied,—"Plenty." 

     A clerk on the St. Albans & Boston RPO opens his contribution with this: 

   "If I should go into detail as to what I did or saw it would fill a book.”, The editor quite agrees with him, however, we will give him such space as can be spared: 

   "When Train No.332, The Ambassador, left Montreal on Thursday Nov. 3d, we had little idea that it would never finish the trip because of high water. It was raining a little, but we were inside and thought nothing of it until we arrived at Waterbury, Vt. at noon. Within 12 hours the station platform was under 10 feet of water. 

   "After leaving Waterbury, we became impressed by the fact that the rain was coming down in force and before reaching Northfield, Vt., we had seen the Dog River over its banks and had run into a small landslide. From Northfield, a run is made to Randolph for the next stop, about 22 or 23 miles. However, the train was flagged at Roxbury for what is probably the longest stop ever made by a crack limited train. To date, the train has been there two months. 

   "We were fortunate in reaching Roxbury. It is the highest point on the Central Vermont Railroad and is a top of the watershed of Vermont state. That we reached Roxbury at all was only due to the ability and nerve of our engineer. One of the bridges went out 20 minutes after we passed over. 

   "My Clerk in Charge is one of the old timers, and as soon as the train had stopped he hustled out to a nearby store and bought some food, — a pie, cookies; cheese and a few bananas. The next day noon I began eating in the dining car attached to the train. 
"Students from Norwich University at Northfield walked up to Roxbury with tales of loss and tragedy. It was impossible to telephone or telegraph or even receive a message by wire. All the news of the flood and from the outer world was brought to us by people passing through on foot. On Saturday airplanes began to appear in the sky, and on days following they would appear at any hour. In the afternoon I decided to walk to Randolph and get in touch with my Chief Clerk at White River Junction so as to get relieved from duty, if possible. It seems a crazy scheme to start out on a 16 mile hike at about 3:30 P. M., but the trip to Randolph with the mail pouch from Train 332, my stop there that night and my return the next morning with the letter mail for Roxbury and some bread for the dining car is something I will never forget. I rode a hand car part way; was carried by horse and wagon part of the distance; got two auto rides and was mired twice and walked most of the way. 

   "Too much praise cannot be given the cadets of Norwich University .They were at all times in evidence. Patrols on horse-back would pass through; some were detailed to help wire gangs string telephone wire and others were doing police duty around the train and in Roxbury. On Sunday and Monday the cadets took messages to Northfield to be sent by radio. One such message I sent was picked up by my parents at Enosburg Falls, Vt. On Monday a patrol of five Norwich cadets with pack horses took the first class mail after dark about eight miles over what was once a highway, fording brooks and one river, dodging fallen telephone wires and going through places nearly impassable from Roxbury to Northfield. I had the privilege of making this trip astride a horse that knew the way, far better than I did. Monday I took a ride of more than 20 miles over the mountain to Williamstown and then to Barre, Vt. This ride was made in a light  Ford truck with the mail in the back. Behind was a larger Dodge truck to pull us out of any bad places. We encountered a few of these, but the driver was a dare-devil who said he had been through the Chelsea fire and the Dayton flood and didn't care for anything. From Barre, Vt. I made a trip in a big Mack truck to Concord, N. H. This is about 150 miles or more. Most of the mail was for Boston and eastern Massachusetts points, and the postmaster at Barre added his mail to mine and decided to forward it on this big truck. As I had some registered mail, I decided to go too, as I was anxious to get home! It was getting somewhat wintry in Vermont. Already the Red Cross furnished me with coat and mittens, but I needed new clothing throughout. We reached Concord at about nine that evening after more than ten hours. I stayed in Concord over night and took the first train home Wednesday morning, arriving a few minutes before 8 o'clock, — just a week, almost to the minute, from the time I left to make the trip to Montreal on November 2." 

     The chief clerk at White River Junction has told us how he was assisted by other chief clerks sent to his District to help make order out of chaos. The first one to go has been so busy since the flood, patching up and laying out star routes that he has offered no contribution. However, it is known that he went first to Concord, N. H. from which point he worked his way through the stricken part of New Hampshire and the northeastern section of Vermont, even to the Canadian Line,—possibly he crossed it—establishing temporary truck service as he proceeded. He was of course armed with authority to move the mails. A specialist in the matter of star routes, he was eminently fitted for the job. Usually a close bargainer with prospective star route contractors, it is understood that in this emergency he was free-handed to a fault. 

     The chief clerk at Albany, N. Y. (Second Division) also played an important part in the drama. His retiring nature must have prevented him from offering a contribution. He is comparatively new on the assignment and with a little more experience his modesty should disappear, It is known, however, that he and his force did yeoman's work. 

     The chief clerk at large from the Second Division also was on the job, and to those of us who know him he is anything but modest, at least, in weight. Certain post office inspectors, too, located in the flood area, rendered valuable assistance. There is something about a post office inspector in times of emergency that lends assurance; that is, if they don't catch us with the goods. While we think of it, the assistant chief clerks of the Railway Mail Service deserve a word in passing. When the chief is out hiking around the country looking wise and spending the Government's money with a prodigal hand, the assistant chief clerk with the force in the home office is holding the bag. With lines disrupted, crews marooned and mail piling up at Junctions, with no RPO service to take care of it, the assistant chief clerk has his hands full. With a hundred things he should do at once and telephone calls to answer continuously at the same time, compared with him the one-armed paperhanger has it pretty soft. 

     Another chief clerk makes the following report: "I left Albany, N. Y., Thursday at 9:45 P. M., inspecting Boston & Albany RPO, Train 36. We missed some Alburg & Albany RPO connections at Albany, indicating trouble on that line. At Pittsfield, however, we found trains 40 and 14 both held up on account of washouts on the Boston & Albany line. The Pittsfield station yard being filled to capacity, our train, which carries no passengers, was moved out to North Adams Junction where we laid until morning. Finally, the engine was released and ordered back to Albany. This left us without steam, so I flagged a switching engine and rode into Pittsfield to see what could be done. I found that trains 40 and 14 had been returned to Albany and I made arrangements with the Pittsfield trainmaster to move 36's car and crew back to Albany, which he did in a reasonably short time. 

   "The railroad officials in the meantime had made arrangements to detour all the through Boston trains via New York (Mott Haven) and Springfield. This arrangement continued until the damage at Becket was repaired. I arranged for a round trip of RPO service a day between Albany and Pittsfield to take care of the local service, and left Albany Saturday P. M. for Boston. I reached home about 3 o'clock Sunday A. M. 

   "I went to my office in the Federal Building Sunday A. M. to find out where we were at. There I found several other officials among whom was the Superintendent. The result of the conference was that inasmuch as the lines under my supervision were functioning after a fashion, they could be 1eft in the hands of my two assistants and I should go to Vermont forth-with. So after further conference with one of my assistants, I left him to handle the District and started in my car for Bellows Fans. I reached Keene, N. H. about 7:30 P. M. and stopped for supper, and was told by what seemed good authority that I could not get through to Bellows Falls with an auto. Accordingly, I stayed in Keene.over night. I got in touch with the postmaster and together we found a carload of Vermont parcel post at the railroad station. I left instructions with the station agent to send this car to Walpole or Cold River, or even to Bellows Falls, if trains could reach there. Monday morning the waters of the Connecticut had receded sufficiently and highways had been repaired to such an extent that I drove to Bellows Falls without any great difficulty. I had seen better roads, but before I left Vermont I found many worse. At Bellows Falls, the postmaster had evidently anticipated my coming for he had an option on one of the most reliable trucking companies there is in the world. 

   "Before noon a truck was started towards Rutland, but East Wallingford was as far as roads were passable. A truck line was already started north from Brattleboro to Bellows Falls, also one south from White River Junction. On the first trip to East Wallingford, I found two clerks marooned in Alburg & Boston northbound RPO at Mt. Holly; also report of another marooned clerk in southbound car at Cuttingsville. Tuesday I sent a special truck to Mt. Holly to take mail from stranded RPO car. Clerks were relieved and they worked their way home as best they could.

   "At the Bellows Falls railroad station I found about 100 sacks of line mail, principally parcel post, which of course could not be delivered until worked up into directs.' Accordingly, I wired the Superintendent for necessary distributing equipment and made arrangements with the station agent to set up a temporary Terminal RPO in the freight house. I then wired the assistant chief clerk at White River Junction to assign two railway postal clerks at Bellows Falls to give me necessary assistance. Two good men were soon on the job, after which the mails out of Bellows Falls moved with remarkable regularity, considering the conditions we were under . 

   "I still have to marvel at the courtesy and helpfulness of railroad officials and employees with whom I came in contact, harassed as they were with their own troubles, they were always courteously willing to give me a hand whenever possible.

   "On Tuesday the Rutland Railroad provided a gasoline handcar and trailer with which the stranded railway postal clerk and the mail from his RPO car were moved from Cuttingsville to East Wallingford. The following day we brought him and his mail to Bellows Falls; inasmuch as he had been a full week in getting from Rutland to Bellows Falls, a matter of 54 miles, it was agreed that he was entitled to go home which he did. This gas handcar trip to Cuttingsville incidentally carried in the first mail this post office had received in a week and which was thereafter supplied by handcar until train service was resumed. 

   "The new route provided Boston gateway mail with an early morning dispatch for Rutland nearly as good as train service because the Boston & Maine were now running their Boston trains into Bellows Falls. By Thanksgiving Day, railroad service on the Rutland railroad was fairly well restored and all truck service in the sector was discontinued except the Bellows Falls-Rutland trip which was continued until full railroad service was restored well along in the winter." 

     A clerk on the St. Johnsbury & Burlington RPO tells us that his line was badly hit but in less than a week after the flood a mail train was operated part way over the road, the rest of the line being covered by motor truck. The connection between the train and the truck was over a temporary foot bridge, and a sack at a time. 

     The clerk continues as follows: 

   "On Dec. 26 when the train left St, Johnsbury, the engine was all decorated with flags and every one had a horn or any thing to make a noise. The trip was uneventful until in sight of Morrisville and between the engine whistle, the tannery and the fire alarm you could hardly hear yourself think; but this was soon over and then the Morrisville band played several pieces. There were speeches by several of the leading citizens of the town, also the assistant superintendent of  the road. There were about 300 people out I to welcome the train and they showed their appreciation of what the railroad meant to them and to the whole valley." 

     The Mail Story of the New England Flood would certainly be in-complete without the acknowledgement of the great work, co-operation and helpfulness of the New England Inspection Division headed by a gentleman whose modesty is exceeded only by his great tact and resourcefulness. 

     As a resident of the flood-swept area and as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads, Senator Moses is exceptionally well qualified to comment on the mail service In general and the flood activities in particular as his comment, quoted below, forcefully illustrates. 

   "The postal service is never daunted by disaster. Fires, floods, earthquakes or epidemics—none can halt the courageous men and women with their message of sympathy succor and good cheer. The resources of transportation by wheel, by water, on foot or in the air are made use of by this resourceful body of public servants; and never did they appear to better advantage, more heroic or self-sacrificing than during those troublous days when New England was swept by its great disaster of last November. All honor to them! And all recognition for their labors!" 
 

Source:  Mail Story Of The Flood, November 1927, Samuel J. Pease, Editor, Chief Clerk, Railway Mail Service, Boston Mass, October 1, 1928, Printed by The Concord Press, Concord NH; prepared by Tom Dunn, January 2002

[Provided by Tom Dunn]
 

To be continued.