Dr. William Seward Webb obtained approval to operate the first “floating post office” by requesting the Postal Service to establish a railway mail express office that would travel by boat along the first four lakes of the Fulton Chain.
The “Inlet and Old Forge RPO” was established in 1901 , staffed by mail clerks operating on “safe and suitable steamboats”. The mail would be received directly from the train’s mail service, sorted by the clerks on the boat and placed in mail bags for Fulton Chain camps and hotels as far as the head of Fourth Lake. The boat’s staff postmarked outgoing mail with stamps marked “TR” and the numbers 1, 2, 3 or 4 depending on which morning or afternoon outgoing or returning mail boat trip picked up the mail. The service was inaugurated on July 24, 1901 and expected to operate until the middle of September. Mail for the Eagle Bay and Inlet post offices would be carried by the Raquette Lake Railway until mail boat operations began.
The first steamer used for this new service was the “Mohegan”, the larger and refurbished “Fulton”, which had been the first mail boat on the Fulton Chain. But this steamer’s use was temporary until the smaller “Old Forge” was repaired, refitted and made suitable for use as a Federal mail boat.
The contract for the mail service was renewed in 1923. In 1929, for the first time since the Railway Mail Express contract was let in 1901, the service was awarded to a new contractor and the “Old Forge” went out of service. That year the contract was awarded to Leon Burnap, and his brother Don was named as the operator. Their service began effective July 1, 1929. The new mail boat was the “Miss America” built by John Rivett.
A new mail boat, “MISS USAMA”, was used from 1951 to 1960. In 1956, the mail boat was placed under the Old Forge Post Office’s jurisdiction and its service reverted to rural mail service and no longer required mail clerks. A smaller boat, “MISS USAMA II” was used from 1960 to 1969 and finally, from 1969 to 1975, the “MISS USAMA III” was the last mail boat.
Presently, the mail is delivered on the diesel-powered “President Harrison” which also carries up to 10 passengers for this historic, informal cruise departing from the Old Forge Lake Cruises dock.
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