All of the recent postal problems have me reflecting on the way we got mail when I was growing up on the ranch. Actually, it’s pretty much the same today. This is how it worked.

Mail for our part of the county came into the Hamilton Post Office, located in the back portion of the Hamilton Store. The store was owned by my Uncle Albert Ottens, and he was the postmaster. The Hamilton Post Office served patrons in the immediate Hamilton area, Morapos/Deer Creek, Williams Fork and the surrounding area.

Some people rented boxes, which looked more like little safes with combination locks at the post office, but most of the mail was delivered by a mail carrier. Uncle Albert worked the mail, putting it in the boxes or mailbags that the carrier drove around to the rural areas — Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday for Morapos/ Deer Creek, and Monday, Wednesday and Friday for Williams Fork and the surrounding area.

Residents put mailboxes up next to the county road — not the metal type with a door as used today. Ours was a large wooden box with a slanting roof. It was large enough to hold a sturdy mailbag, resembling one that might be carried on horseback.

The mailbags were made of a heavy-duty canvas, with a flap at the top that was closed using a strap and buckle. Family names were stenciled on the bags. As memory serves, each household had two bags, one with outgoing mail that was picked up by the carrier and exchanged with the bag of mail coming from Hamilton.

I can remember the names of two mail carriers in my growing-up years: “Dutch” Schneider, a neighbor, and George Mack of Craig. I can’t remember the way the mail was delivered when the roads were drifted shut, as in 1949, but have been told that “Dutch” Schneider delivered it on horseback.

The mail is still delivered by carrier to the Morapos/Deer Creek areas today, except that patrons use metal boxes with doors and mailbags are no longer used. There are also rules about what can be put in mailboxes.

When I was a kid, if Mom was running out of some nonperishable ingredients, she sent a note to Uncle Albert in the mailbag with outgoing letters (we had no phone until I was 14.) He sent the ingredient back in the mailbag the next mail day. Every Christmas, Uncle Albert sent us a gift in the mailbag — Gouda cheese with a red wax cover and some honey. It was the same every year.

I think that packages were left in the mailbox, if they weren’t too big. Each spring when Mom ordered chicks, Uncle Albert put a note with the mail or got a neighbor to let us know they were at Hamilton, and we drove down to get them.

During all those years, there were very few problems getting the mail delivered.