Status: 12/24/2021 12:38 p.m.
For 100 years, the residents of Hells Canyon in the US state of Oregon have been supplied by ship – it brings mail, food and medicine. It is eagerly awaited at Christmas.
It is early in the morning when postman Jill Koch boards the speedboat and her husband Jim starts the engine. Then it goes into the Hells Canyon, the “hell canyon” in the three-country corner of the states of Idaho, Oregon and Washington in the northwest of the USA.
Mail has been delivered here by boat for more than 100 years, and by Jill and Jim Koch for almost 30 years. Once a week they deliver letters and parcels to 52 households. Because those who live here live in remote areas. Especially in winter they can hardly be reached any other way than by boat.
“People are always happy to see us,” says Jill. “How happy you are in such remote areas when you wait for something. For example, for the food or medicine that we bring.”
How a mail ship delivers letters and parcels to the residents of Hells Canyon
Kerstin Klein, ARD Washington, daily topics 9.45 p.m., December 23, 2021
The last tour before the festival
Today, however, the chefs mainly loaded Christmas mail and parcels. The last tour before the festival is a very special one for her too. Many residents know them personally, and some have become friends. And so for many of the customers today there is also a package from Jill and Jim with them.
Dave Rester receives a large stack of packages. “It’s already special today, just before Christmas,” he says happily. “And as you can see: I get rich gifts.”
“Without the mail boat I would have to walk two days to the post office and two days back,” says resident Bill Grazer and also takes a whole stack of parcels from postman Jill. “We’re expecting guests for Christmas,” says local resident Brian Schaefer. “The delivery arrives just in time.”
Letters instead of crabs
In 1993 Jill and Jim Koch took over the postal license for Hells Canyon and thus fulfilled a long-cherished dream. Jim had previously gone to sea as a shrimp fisherman for many years. Until he then traded the ocean for the river. And the crabs against the post. The right decision for you, they say: “The gorge is simply beautiful in every season of the year.”
Once a week they do the tour through Hells Canyon. Around six hours there and back, around 250 kilometers. You are ready for today and can go home – to your own parcels and parcels.
Without the mail boat, many of the residents of Hells Canyon would no longer receive mail.
Image: ARD