Bob,
Any idea what OARTERO translates to? I can't find this word, other than the name of a website.
Edit:
Misread the first letter; should be CARTERO - Postman.
Information I came across on the internet recently raised a question about a cover in my collection. Here it is:
This is a case where the back of the cover is even more important than the front:
The Azure Mine, producing high quality turquoise, was operating in New Mexico in the mid-1890s. I have learned that there was a community called Azure 10 miles southwest of my home town, Silver City, in the Burro Mountains, no doubt at or near the mine site. It had a post office, which was open only from January 7, 1895 to April 27, 1895. I don't know why the cover was postmarked in Silver City. Perhaps the Azure Mine offices were there rather than in Azure.
Postmarks from Azure don't, apparently, exist. I asked Jim Forte (postalhistory.com) about it; he wrote, "According to the New Mexico Territorial Postmark Catalog by Thomas K. Todsen, no postmarks are known from Azure." There are scores of ghost towns in that area, some of which I've visited, but I'd never heard of Azure until I happened to run across it in a Google search about the mine itself.
I've written quite extensively about this cover. I'll post some links when I've tidied up a couple of the web pages.
Bob
Edit: I just realized that I'd forgotten to change my original subject line, "Is this cover from a "Forwarding Post Office"? to the current one, "A very short-lived New Mexico post office," which more accurately reflects what I learned from Jim Forte.
re: A very short-lived New Mexico post office
Bob,
Any idea what OARTERO translates to? I can't find this word, other than the name of a website.
Edit:
Misread the first letter; should be CARTERO - Postman.