Owney Tails - Coin Capade

One of the best dog stories ever told is a true one. Owney the Dog served as an unofficial U.S. Mail mascot in the late 1800’s. After more than 100 years, his legendary travels are being featured on a U.S. Postage Stamp, issued on July 27.

This week, we will feature guest posts by Dirk Wales, author of A Lucky Dog: Owney, U.S. Rail Mascot and The Further Adventures of a Lucky Dog: Owney, U.S. Rail Mail Mascot.

Coin Capade

by Dirk Wales 

I was told about how coins minted in Carson City, NV, were shipped via the Railway Post Office to the San Francisco mint.

This felt like a good situation for a curious dog.

In The Further Adventures of A Lucky Dog, I wrote a story about how Owney rode on an RPO car headed for San Francisco when it stopped. There, a group of armed men in blue uniforms got on the train and begin loading heavy white bags.

Owney, of course, began sniffing around these bags, but they had no smell. What! Everything has a smell to it, but not these cold white bags. He sat on them all the way to San Francisco and watched them be unloaded onto a boat that would take them across San Francisco Bay to the Mint.

Owney hopped on that boat and went all the way to the Mint with the bags, still in a mystery of what they were. If Owney could have read, he would have seen that the bags said, “U.S. Silver Dollars” with the dollar amount in the bag.

When the bags were off-loaded, Owney stayed on to cross the Bay again and go onto his most western destination, Cloverdale. California

For an opportunity to win a copy of Dirk's books, listen to the latest Your Postal Podcast and leave your thoughts in the comment box.

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