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Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.
Notes on the back of the original read: "Philip Roper mail carrier/Phil Roper dairy wagon." Whether he used this wagon for both purposes, I don't know. There is no date on the photo. <> Along the Route (Ballantyne and Adams) mentions Philip Roper as a mail carrier during the time that Harry Carlson was postmaster (1929 – 1933); I wonder whether rural mail was still being delivered by horse-drawn wagon at that late date.
Notice the long fringes on the horses' harness. What a fancy get-up, just to deliver the mail or the milk.
Here is Philip Roper Sr.'s obituary, from the Hobart Gazette of October 11, 1918. (I think it was Philip Jr. who carried mail.)
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I believe that the fringe covers were to keep flies at bay...my g'pa Carbine worked for Roper and Brown...I have a picture of him and the horse drawn wagon, circa maybe 1910?. I graduated HHS, class of '65 with a Louis Roper who I believe is a direct decendant of this family. Don't know if he is still in the area.
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