Did you know?
GUSTINE POST OFFICE
There was a time when early Gustine residents went to the hole in the old cottonwood tree on Cottonwood Road to pick up their mail.
From that unofficial “drop” in the cottonwood tree, a more advanced office was established in a grocery store on Jan. 2, 1884.
The office was in the town of Sturgeon, located on the southwest corner of Whitworth and Snyder Road.
Six years later, on Oct. 28, 1890, the Sturgeon office closed, to be replaced by the Ingomar office, which remained intact until Jan. 31, 1921.
That’s when the Ingomar office was moved in with the Gustine Post Office. The change was mainly due to the resignation of the postmaster, when he sold his store, which was run in connection with the post office. The new owner did not want to handle the mail.
This info was gleaned from “Gustine, Gem of the Valley”
By Pat Snoke
Henry Miller established a policy relating to “tramps” early in his career. He said, “Don’t let the tramps sleep in the hay stacks. Let them know that they can always have one night’s lodging in the barn. If they fall asleep in the hay stack they may stay there several days, break it all down, probably go to smoking and set in on fire. If you give them a bed in the barn they will appreciate it, stay just one night, won’t use any matches and then be on their way.
When told to feed all hobos a meal, the Chinese cook complained about washing dishes for them. Henry Miller said, “All right, we’ll have the tramps eat after the men, off of the same plates, They will clean them for you.”
Under these humanitarian rules, which soon came to be well understood, the Miller ranches became a mecca for the tramps thus was born the “DIRTY PLATE ROUTE.
Information for this blurb is from Edward Treadwell in his book, The Cattle King.
Excerpt from letter to Gustine’s Mayor L. C. Lee on May 13, 1945. Written by Sergeant Erick Landin.
Dear Mr. Lee,
I am a stranger to you and you are a stranger to me also, but to both of us the name Gustine means much more than just a name. I am a commander of the tank named after the city “Gustine.” My crew and I have had some very trying times in “Old Gustine.” We went through the the battle of Ruhr Valley and then moved up with General Patton’s third army. Old Gustine took a beating in the Ruhr but we kept rolling. Although I hail from Minneapolis, Minnesota I thought you might like to know something of how the tank that was named after your home town came through this mess. We are all glad it is over with now.
Sincerely yours,
Sergeant Erick Landin
