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Dorsey the Mail Dog
During the great silver boom at Calico, a small settlement grew around the Bismarck Mine in the canyon east of town. Together with miners working at the Garfield, Odessa, Occidental, and neighboring mines, perhaps forty people lived in the area known as East Calico.Calico was less than a mile away in a straight line, but the direct trail was steep and rugged, while the wagon road followed a longer route. The government did not consider East Calico large enough to warrant its own post office, and the miners disliked making the difficult trip into town for their mail.
The residents collected money to pay a boy named Dave to carry the mail from Calico by burro. When Dave found a better job, however, no one else wanted the position.
About that time, a man named Stacy opened a store near the Bismarck Mine. He was the brother of Calico's postmaster, although historical accounts disagree about the brothers' first names. The Stacy family owned a large Scotch collie named Dorsey, which reportedly had first come to them seeking shelter during a storm. The storekeeper took Dorsey with him when he moved to East Calico.
Dorsey's loyalties remained divided. After spending a few days at Bismarck, he ran back to Calico. The postmaster attached a note to the dog's neck and sent him home. After Dorsey repeated the journey several times, Stacy realized that the dog could carry more than a message.
He fastened a small sack of newspapers to Dorsey's back and sent him toward East Calico. Dorsey delivered them successfully. Before long, someone made a pair of small saddlebags marked "U.S. Mail," and Dorsey began carrying letters and newspapers between Calico and the Bismarck settlement three times a week.
Dorsey soon became one of Calico's best-known characters. Although he was not a government employee and his route was entirely unofficial, he faithfully completed his appointed rounds. Miners sometimes tried to distract him or interfere with the mail, but Dorsey usually avoided them and continued along the trail.
Only one questionable incident found its way into the story.
One Christmas, Herman Mellen was living in a cave near Bismarck when his mother sent him a box of candy and other treats. Stacy tied the package beneath Dorsey's neck. When the dog reached Bismarck, the bottom of the box was open and its contents were gone. No one ever determined whether Dorsey had eaten the sweets, someone had robbed the package, or the bottom had simply broken and scattered the contents along the trail.
Dorsey carried the mail for about two years. When the silver boom weakened and the East Calico mines closed, there was no longer a need for his service.
When the Stacy family left Calico, they gave Dorsey to John S. Doe, a wealthy San Francisco man with interests in the Calico mines. According to the traditional account, Calico's faithful mail dog spent the remainder of his life in comfort in San Francisco.
Source note:
Adapted from "Dorsey the Mail Dog," published in Calico Print by Harold and Lucile Weight, Calico Press. Calico Print was described as having been established in 1882 by Vincent and Overshiner. The identification of the Stacy brothers remains uncertain because surviving accounts give several different first names.
A friend to Man.
