HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY                      111

on the railroad lines, which have wholly superseded the stage-line service
on the National Road. Prior to 1850 there was a mail line by stage
between Terre Haute and Bloomington by way of Bowling Green and
Christie’s Prairie, Between the years 1850 and 1860 there were four
routes out from Bowling Green: To Monrovia, by way of Poland,
Cataract, Quincy and Hall; To Spencer, by way of Jordan Village,
Atkinsonville and Cataract; To Carlisle, by way of Martz, Howesville
and Coffee; To Rockville, by way of Brazil and Bridgeton. At some
time within this period, in the early fifties, the daily route was established
between Bowling Green and Brazil as terminals, which was continued
uninterruptedly for nearly forty years, until postal route number 133,067
was established between Brazil and Center Point, on the Center Point
Division of the Vandalia Railroad, which went into effect, Monday,
December 19, 1892, after which the star route from Bowling Green ter-
minated at Center Point. The star route from Bowling Green to Martz
(at one time including Patricksburg, Hausertown, Stockton and Bellaire)
which had been running nearly twenty years, was discontinued soon after
a route was located from Terre Haute to Martz, by way of Riley, Cory
and Saline City, on the Cincinnati & Terre Haute (later the Terre Haute
& Southeastern) Railroad, which went into effect October 21, 1872.
    In the month of July, 1871, a change was made in the Bowling
Green-Brazil route so as to include Ashboro on the line, which was con-
tinued until the month of January, 1872, when the service was restored
as before and a daily star route established between Center Point and
Ashboro. A semi-weekly route, Wednesdays and Saturdays, between
Poland and Manhattan, was established July 1, 1871. A daily mail route
was established, June 1, 1888, from Pimento, on the Evansville & Terre
Haute railroad, out to Lewis, Coffee, Howesville and Jasonville, which
had previously been a tri-weekly for the period of fifteen years. A tri-
weekly star route, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, was established
between Clay City and Patricksburg, by way of Woodside and Hauser-
town, June 1, 1888, which was made a daily route, later on, then discon-
tinued with the close of September, 1906. The route between Clay City
and Middlebury (Martz) which had been maintained for more than a
quarter of a century, was discontinued April 30, 1907. Mail service
on the E. & I. South Branch Railroad, between Brazil and Clay City, went
into effect on the 23d day of April, 1888.
    Of the nineteen offices still retained in the county fifteen are directly
supplied by the railroad service. Of the hundreds of miles of star route
deliveries maintained years ago there are now but two short lines in the
county—route number 33,221, from Stearleyville to Poland, and route
number 33,222, from Center Point to Bowling Green. Two offices—
Cardonia and Howesville—are served by rural carriers, the former by
rural route from Brazil, the latter by rural route from Jasonville. Ere
long the star route delivery in our postal system will be a thing of the
past in Clay county. The rural delivery system has practically supplanted
them.
    The system of delivery by rural carriers is now in its eighth year
here in Clay county, the first one having gone out from Brazil north into
Dick Johnson township, Monday, September 2, 1901. There are now
thirty-one routes in the county, going out from ten different postoffices,
distributed as follows: Brazil 9, Clay City 5, Center Point 4, Carbon 3,