By Al Jones
History buffs may be scratching their heads trying to figure out how Canada Post beat the Pacific Great Eastern (PGE) Railway to Lone Butte.
Canada Post celebrated 100 years of service on Feb. 10, although the actual anniversary date was Feb. 1.
The original Fawn Post Office was in two different locations at Fawn Creek before moving west to Lone Butte in 1922, arriving just after the railroad. The name of the Post Office didn't change from Fawn to Lone Butte until Oct. 11, 1961 – apparently due to a conflict with another town named Lone Butte in Alberta.
The name change occurred when Alice Singleton was the postmaster in Lone Butte.
With this small historical technicality explained, Canada Post Superintendent Rob Klarich, local area manager Karen Plessis joined the current postmaster Audrey Nelson and part-time employee Lona Scott to celebrate the 100-year milestone anniversary.
Members of the Lone Butte Historical Association, the 100 Mile House & District Stamp Club and other members of the community joined Audrey for the cake cutting and the unveiling of a special CANCEL stamp which features the historic Water Tower and the Lone Butte Rock.
The post office was nicely decorated with balloons and historic photos of Lone Butte.
The large, excellently decorated chocolate cake was served with coffee to all who attended the open house, and commemorative pins, note pads and pens were handed out.
Audrey, who has been the current Lone Butte postmaster since 1999, designed and gave away 100th Anniversary Post Cards to those who attended the celebration.
The well designed and nicely decorated post cards are also historically informative as they include a complete list of names of Lone Butte postmasters and dates of service for the last hundred years.
The CANCEL stamp is available to folks who bring or send their mail to the post office.
On March 11, the post office in 100 Mile House will also be celebrating 100 years of service.
It is interesting to note that 70 Mile House celebrated its 100-year anniversary in 2008 and that the Lac La Hache Post Office was established back in 1872, as it was on the Gold Rush Trail to Barkerville.
Al Jones is the Lone Butte correspondent.