La Posta January 2002 11
Figure 1 Fort Ellis, a military post constructed of logs, was built in 1867 to protect Bozeman
and the Gallatin Valley from threats of Indian invasion. The post office opened and closed twice
between 1880 and 1886. This cover shows the only example reported to us of the double line,
double circle (DLDC28) postmark from this scarce Montana fort.
Montana Territorial Postmarks
Part 4: Flathead, Gallatin, Glacier, Golden Valley, Granite & Hill Counties
By Wesley N. Shellen & Francis Dunn
This fourth installment of our series adds six more tana postal history. (Send reports to Wes Shellen, PO
counties to our growing record of the postmarks of Box 9395, Missoula, MT 59807-9395; or email
Montana Territory. As in previous installments, we
wesndeb@aol.com.) This is also an appropriate time
remind readers that post offices are listed here accord- to acknowledge and thank the thoughtful people who
ing to the counties in which they are found today, in- have provided information or assistance in response
stead of the original territorial counties, which fre- to our first three articles: Giles Cokelet, Ken Hamlin,
quently changed boundaries due to county reorgani- Wayne Hassell, Richard W. Helbock, Daniel Y.
zations over the years. Thanks to our publisher, Rich- Meschter, Howard Ness, Roger Robison, Chris
ard W. Helbock, we are able to show maps of the postal Shellen, Stephen T. Taylor, and Jack M. Smith, Sr.
routes in those original counties as they appeared in
1884. The map of Gallatin County, shown in this in-
Your Participation in the
stallment, was one of the original nine counties when
Montana Territory was formed.
Project is Respectfully
Does anyone have a territorial postmark from Boxelder
Requested
or any of the other towns listed here or in previous
If you can expand our knowledge of Montana
articles as having “none reported?” (Of course
Territorial postmark types and date ranges,
Boxelder or Box Elder would really be quite a find,
please contact
since its post office opened on October 30, 1889, only
ten days before Montana became a state.) We appre-
ciate and encourage reports of new postmarks and date Wes Shellen
extenders that will improve the accuracy and complete-
PO Box 9395
ness of this work for the benefit of postal historians
Missoula, MT 59807-9395
and especially those who share our passion for Mon-
email:
wesndeb@aol.com
©Wesley N. Shellen & Francis Dunn
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82