Jon
Torsteinson-Rue was born in Norway
in 1827. At the age of ten the family emigrated to the United
States and settled in Iowa.
When Torsteinson-Rue heard about the Californian
Gold Rush, he drove a herd of cattle to California. He settled
in Placerville and mined in Kelsey Diggens,Coon Hollow and Georgetown.
With the money he made he purchased a small ranch at Putah Creek in
the Sacramento Valley.
In 1855 Torsteinson-Rue read an article about the difficulties of
carrying post across the Sierra Nevada mountains. He remembered as
a young child people in Norway people using skies to travel across
the snow. After making his own 10 foot long, 25 pound oak skies, Torsteinson-Rue
volunteered his services as a mailman.
Torsteinson-Rue made his first mail run in January, 1856. For the
next 20 winters, regardless of weather, he took mail between Placerville,
California, and Mormon Station, Utah, four times a month. The round
trip took five days. His treks over snowdrifts up to 50 feet high
and through blizzards in over 80 mile per hour winds, to deliver mail
to those living in isolation became legendary.
As well as the weather, Torsteinson-Rue had to cope with grizzly bears,
mountain lions and wolves. He carried no gun as this would have restricted
the amount of mail he carried.
Jon Torsteinson-Rue who changed his name to John Thompson, carried
mail between California and Utah until his death from appendicitis
on 15th May, 1876.
Last
updated: 8th June, 2002
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