Giddy up!
What better way to deliver the Trail Times than by horseback?
Here is a great shot of Murray Mikalishen of Beaver Falls and his beloved pony, Buckwheat.
Murray was the youngest son in a family of four girls and four boys.
“Inspired by his older brother who used to deliver the Times, Murray came of age to do the job and had an idea,” explains archivist Addison Oberg, Trail Museum and Archives.
“Buckwheat became a neighborhood icon, he knew the route and when to stop, residents came out and gave him treats,” she said.
“And this system of paper delivery was fast, almost twice as fast as the oldest Mikalishen’s paper boy route.”
The dynamic duo of Murray and Buckwheat completed deliveries to 31 homes in Beaver Falls and Montrose.
The only down side to this very entrepreneurial system of delivery in the 1970s?
It was literally outgrown.
Meaning, Murray became too tall to ride Buckwheat.
“I am sure the plucky little pony enjoyed his paper route retirement however,” added Oberg.
Read more: #LocalHistory (Trail Blazers)
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