The Letcher Post Office was established October, 1882 in Miner County, Dakota Territory. On the application for the post office, the information states that it would be four miles from the previous route and will be supplied from Mitchell. The post office will be located 36 rods east of the railroad. There were 80 inhabitants at this time in the village. The population to be served by this office will be 250 people from the surrounding community. Conner Cooney was the proposed postmaster on Sept.15,1882 but W. H. Heald was the one appointed and it was located in his store. Mr. Heald walked to Mitchell and back with the mail until the railroad was finished. The post office was on the north side of the Main Street in the location of the “Rec” building today. At the time of the fire the Post Office was located in the building previously occupied by the Citizens Bank, presently Terry Greene’s Office. After the fire it was temporarily located in Burns Lumber Company. Later it was across the street west of the Legion Hall, 300 feet from the railroad tracks. For many years it was in the building where the bank is today, on the south side of the street: between First and Second Street, lot 5, in block 9, according to Clare Leamy’s application. A new building was put up in 1962 by the owner Wallace Welch. Open house was held with 300 persons attending. Thomas Stach is the owner today (1983) and he is also the postmaster.

Some of the postmasters through the years besides those mentioned were Edward Welch, August 5, 1885, Theophilus N. Kirkpatrick, April 15, 1889, Henry M. Hopkins, June 20, 1893, T. N. Kirkpatrick, June 14, 1897. He was reappointed in 1909 as the office was by Presidential appointment according to the political party in office. Elva Kirkpatrick, Nov. 9, 1910, John Davis, Jan. 12, 1915, Harold French, May 10, 1922, Regina Trinen, July 17, 1934, William Trinen, April 1, 1937 and Clara Leamy July 19, 1939 until 1971. It was during her term that the office was put under the civil service. Some of the rural mail carriers were Jeff Woodard, Elmer Druse, Rt.2, Wilbur Parker, Rt. 1, Carl Johnson, Boyd Britton, and today (1983) Marvin Godber, Rt. 1, and Gayland Trudeau, Rt. 2. Many remember the enclosed buggy that Elmer Druse drove with the window in front and the lines going into the buggy.

Elmer Druse, rural mail carrier at Letcher, received a top state honor at the convention of the South Dakota Rural Letter Carrier’s Association when he was named “rural carrier of the year.” He has carried mail for 45 years.

The award is based on years of service, accumulation of sick leave, safe driving record, organization work and community service.

A post office was established in Miner County, Dakota Territory on Feb. 12, 1880. It was called DeWitt after an early settler of Butler township. It was located on Section 35-105-61, on the section that Duane Stekl lives today. The mail was brought from Firesteel (Mitchell) to Morriston and then to DeWitt. this was also the route of the stage coach so the mail was probably carried there by the stage. The application states that the office will be 20 feet west of the Dakota River (known today as the James River). The population to be supplied will be 20 persons. Postmasters of this post office were J. S. Foster, Ambrose O’Connell, and J. J. Hughes. This office was discontinued in 1885.

This ppost office had numeroous names. It was called Ordway after the Governor N. C. Orway, as Richford, and Langdon. It was established in 1881 with George Weston as ppostmaster. He operated it from his home near the river. It was located in the S. E. 1/4 Section 11-105-61 in the section Lawrence Ruml lives today. It was discontinued in 1883 and the mail was distributed to DeWitt.,/P>

Another record calls a post office Lanfgon and it was located in Section 1-105-61. It lists J. S. Foster and G. P. Fargen as postmasters. It was established in 1881 and discontinued in 1883. Jeff Shawd owns part of the section that it was located upon. There are no government records on this so it might have been used as a stopping place by the stage coach with mail between DeWitt and Forstburg, located south of the site of Forestburg today. One old newspaper states that the mail arrived in 1881 by stage from the south on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and from the north on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.