By RAELYNN RICARTE
News staff writer
June 21, 2007

Bill Nix, a parole/probation officer in Hood River County, has been collecting stamps since he was 11 years old.

His fascination with history — he holds a degree in the field — will be shared with other collectors on Friday. (The date was incorrectly listed as Thursday in Saturday’s edition.)

Nix, a member of the Pacific Northwest Postal History Society, has arranged a special mailing opportunity for all interested individuals. Correspondence shipped 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. from a temporary postal station in the Best Western Hood River Inn will be cancelled by the replica of an antique device.

“It’s just basically a curiosity, there’s no monetary value in these things,” said Nix.

People wanting to preserve the Rural Route 1 cancel can bring in an envelope or piece of paper. They can also obtain the mark for the next month at the downtown post office — although bills and letters can only be stamped and mailed on June 22.

“We usually have a very good turnout with these pictorial cancellations,” said Postmaster Kevin Branson.

Nix said the Rural Route 1 cancellation device helped early settlers of the Hood River Valley stay connected. Since there were no telephones around the turn of the century, they would send a postcard with the letter carrier to another home along the line. The carrier, using one of the devices issued from 1900-1903, cancelled the stamp on the spot; providing customers with same-day delivery. The post mark included the letters RFD (Rural Free Delivery), the name of the parent post office, the date and the state in four straight lines.

Nix said use of cancellation devices allowed residents in outlying areas to keep in touch with greater convenience. They no longer had to make a long trip on foot, riding in a wagon or on a horse.

“A post card was a real low-cost means of communication in those days,” he said.

After 1909 the official hand stamps became less common. Several years earlier, the postal service, in an effort to save money, had begun requiring letter carriers to cancel stamps with indelible pencils — a much more time consuming process.

Nix said old postcards bearing the cancel mark have a monetary value. He said replica cancellations, such as the one being applied Friday in Hood River, are just fun to collect.

Branson said towns across the United States design pictorial cancellations to advertise for special events. For example, the opening of the Mosier Twin Tunnels in 2000 and the inaugural run of the Mount Hood Railroad in 1988.

Nix said there are 15-20 special cancellation events taking place across the country each week. And many collectors travel to as many locations as possible to capture the mark on paper.

On Friday, he will exhibit some of his vintage stamps on historic postcards. One of his displays includes the special stamps for mail carried by zeppelins, the German airships that were used for civilian deliveries from 1908-1939.

Nix also has several of the Christmas cards that letter carriers sent to their patrons prior to World War I. That practice stopped after the postal service determined that the holiday greetings could be construed as solicitations for a gift.