DUANE
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Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm going to do it justice. Now, out here in Briscoe County, things happened in a particular order, and the order matters. May 2, 1891.
That's the date two post offices blinked into existence in this part of the world, one at a place called Luther, and one at a place called Celtic. Eleven months, mind you, before Briscoe County was even formally organized. The county didn't exist yet, not officially, but the mail was already moving.
You've got to admire that kind of optimism. A pioneer by the name of E.R. Thomas had gone ahead and named the Celtic post office himself, and he ran the whole operation out of his own home, near this very site, along with a store for good measure.
Home, store, post office, all rolled into one. That was the frontier doing what it does. Then 1892 comes around, and the post office gets moved.
It relocates to the home of Hayden W. Savage, a man who was one of the organizers of the county. So the mail follows the people, the way it tends to do.
The year after that, the Celtic post office is consolidated with postal operations in Silverton, and just like that, it's done. A short run. But here's the thing the marker wants you to sit with: for those early settlers, including the cowboys riding in from the nearby ranches, that little post office was vital.
Not convenient. Not helpful. Vital.
Sometimes the shortest chapters are the ones that hold everything together.
What the marker says
(0.8 mi. E) The first two post offices in the area were established at Celtic and Luther on May 2, 1891, eleven months before formal organization of Briscoe County. Celtic was named by pioneer E.R. Thomas, who operated the post office and a store in his home near this site. In 1892 the post office was moved to the home of Hayden W. Savage, an organizer of the county. The following year it was consolidated with postal operations in Silverton. Although in service for a short time, the Celtic post office was vital to early settlers, which included cowboys from nearby ranches. (1983)