TOLD by the PIONEERS - Washington Secretary of State

Told by the Pioneers
from The Dalles on the north bank of the river. He was obliged to
start in the early morning hours in order to make the trip through to
the Blockhouse in the course of the day. He remained over night at
Spring Creek with some friends and acquaintances he had acquired
during the days preceding this historic period.
His daughter relates that as her father would be leaving the Blockhouse
with the mail, several of the neighborhood women would gather
and send by him to get many household articles which they might be
in need of at that time. It might be a few spools of thread, a paper
of needles, or a few yards of calico, or some other necessity of which
the busy housewife was in need at that time. It is further related that
•
his memory was so accurate that he seldom forgot the separate items
for which they sent and upon his return trip usually was able to bring
back everv item.
•
WYERS BRIDGES THE GAP
Mail from Pony Express to E'leet of Trucks
By Gertrude Wyers
Yakima County •
By July of 1934, when the mail routes are once more bid upon and
contracted from the government, Teunis 'Wyers, Jr., will have carried
the mail from the town of White Salmon to the outlying districts for
forty years. That is a long time to faithfully serve Uncle Sam regardless
of wind and weather, man and beast. The schedule includes,
as it did then, and has for years, Husum, Trout Lake, Glenwood and
Snoden. This covers practically the whole of the White Salmon valley,
which begins at the Columbia river and extends northward to the
base of the snow-capped Mt. Adams.
You have doubtless been thrilled before by the tales of the heroes
of the Pony Express, how they rode fearlessly and alone to bring mail
to its appointed destination. This enterprise had its beginning in such
fashion. In 1894, when Teunis Wyers was but a lad of eighteen years,
he carried the mail on horseback from White Salmon to the tOWll of
Glenwood, a distance of thirty-five miles, three times a week. And,
it is said, he never missed a trip. The whole of his equipment then
consisted of three cayuses. One he secured for breaking two wild
colts, one he traded a pig for and the third he purchased for eight
dollars.
140