Around 1850 settlers, fur trappers, explorers and gold miners started moving into the Rogue River Canyon. This vast and isolated wilderness cut pioneers off from civilization and it was common for pioneers to have no human contact for months or even years at a time. The closest post office was located in Wedderburn, Oregon, on the north side of the Rogue River Bridge. Mail was brought there from San Francisco by small sailing schooners and inland train. From there it had to be carried by pack mules to outposts along the Rogue River corridor. Elijah Price proposed a U.S. sanctioned Post Office on his homestead at Big Bend forty miles upstream. He believed he could move mail and freight more efficiently, to the isolated pioneers, by boat.
Elijah Price - Mail Boat Run Pioneer
The trial year was complete and proved it could work. The following year sealed bids for the operation of the route were accepted. In the spring of 1896 Jim Thorten was awarded the first official contract and would receive $600.00 yearly to deliver mail upriver once a week.
In October of 1897, a post office was established thirty-two miles upriver in the home of Amaziah Aubury. The post office was named Agness after his daughter. Early gasoline engines were beginning to emerge in the 1900’s and Henry Moore operated the first gasoline powered Mail Boat. Initially the small engines were not very powerful and required the assistance of poles to get up over the shallow areas. After the gasoline motor had taken over in the operation of the Mail Boats, the boats stopped at Amaziah Aubury’s post office, rather then continuing on to Big Bend. The mail was carried from there to Big Bend by pack mule and horse. A community began to take shape surrounding the home of Amaziah and his post office. Soon it became known as Agness and continues to serve as the Mail Boats upriver head quarters.
1926 Oscar Miller and Roy Carter operated the mail contract and had several gasoline powered round bottomed boats equipped with a special lift that would lift the propeller up behind the boat to navigate the shallow riffles. Boats at this time could accommodate a few passengers but predominantly carried mail and freight. The Civilian Conservation Corps (C.C.C) once established a camp near Agness during this era. All the material needed for the camp and camp buildings was hauled in by the Mail Boats. The C.C.C was in Agness to complete a steel suspension bridge from the south to the north side of the Rogue River. The Mail Boats hauled in all the necessary material to complete the bridge and it was completed in 1932 (The steel suspension bridge was washed out in the 1964 flood).
In 1946 the contract was awarded to Deforest Sorber and Lex Fromm (Deforest’s son Jim Sorber continues the legacy as a Rogue River pilot still today). Lex and Deforest began building their own design to improve upon the older Mail Boats they purchased. Their first boat they build had a flat bottom and a lift for the propeller and rudder. In 1959, Lex also went on to design the first ‘tunnel’ boat. This special design allowed the propeller to operate up in a tunnel built into the hull of the boat. Building boats on the Rogue River has always been and continues to be a process of evolution.
With the end of World War II more people began to travel and visitors who stopped to fish on the Rogue River began to take the mail boat ride as a pleasure tour. Early travelers enjoyed the novelty of watching as mail was delivered to the various dock, homes, camps and boats along the way. The popularity of the Rogue River was becoming known country wide for its scenic environment. Author Zane Grey, river-runner Glen Wooldridge, Hollywood stars and starlets and a growing middle class helped bring world-wide notoriety to the Rogue River Canyon.
As some things change over the years the important ones remain the same. The Rogue is still a wild and roving river spilling through some of the most beautiful scenery in the world. Today, the Mail Boats are one of only a few mail services delivering by boat.
