The first post office in this area of Calaveras County was at Double Springs in 1851. This building was shipped over here from China made of camphor wood. It also was the first court house of Calaveras County. The building has been restored at the museum in San Andreas. Later that same year Moke Hill opened their post office.
Third Crossing opened in 1852 followed by San Andreas in 1854.
Fourth Crossing in 1855 and closer to home was Mill Valley which was located on Whiskey Slide Road where it crosses Jesus Maria Creek. locals have known this as the Sharp Ranch.
Railroad Flat opened in 1857 and Mountain Ranch in 1858. Also Poverty Flat in 1858 which was north of town.
Sheep ranch in 1877, Glencoe in 1878 and Cave City in 1883. As you can see a great many of these post offices opened with the discovery of a good gold claim, opened very quickly and died just as fast. Only 5 of the 12 locations are still in operation.
Things changed very quickly in the early gold rush days as you can see.
The first post office in Mountain Ranch, which was located one mile north of the present town of Mountain Ranch, was established on July 30th, 1858. John McKeon was the first postmaster. The net proceeds for 1858 were $2.33. Mr. McKeon’s compensation was $7.31. A profitable first year? William H. Holmes became postmaster on July 29th, 1861.
In 1868 the post office was moved from Mountain Ranch to El Dorado. They could not name this post office El Dorado because there already was a post office with this name in El Dorado County, so the name Mountain Ranch was moved with the post office.
With this move old Mountain Ranch again became a private residence and a ranch and the town of El Dorado then became known as Mountain Ranch.
Bartalmo Dughi became postmaster on July 6, 1868. The Dughi building is now a private residence where Judy and Frank Brockman live, considered by most historians as one of the finest buildings still in use in the Mother Lode. Giovanni Rodesino was postmaster on Nov. 20, 1888. This was in the two story building that later became Senders Market which burned down on Christmas morning in 1968. The new Senders Market is located on the same spot.
The post office was then in Joe Devoto’s home and he became postmaster on May 25, 1894. His house was next to the Dughi building and it still stands today as the Lutheran Church. This half house, sometimes called a Flounder house, is the oldest wooden building in Mountain Ranch.
Mrs. Jennie Devoto Koen, Joe’s sister, then became postmaster on Jan. 22, 1906. As a clerk and postmaster she worked for the department for 27 years. Mrs. Koen died March 27, 1967 at the age of 94.
A small eight-by-ten-foot building was built April 5th, 1923 by James Javeaux and John Zwinge from lumber purchased from Fred Leidecker of Mountain Ranch. This building was built at the corner of Garabaldi and Washington Streets. May E. Javeaux was postmaster here in the world’s smallest post office from March 2, 1923 until Feb. 6th, 1956. Mrs. Javeaux then retired after 33 years of service.
Today you can see the world’s smallest post office on display here in town.
In a story published in the Washington D.C. Star, it was stated that May E. Javeaux claimed that the office served 250 patrons and was the smallest in the country. No challengers to the title ever disputed this claim.
On Dec. 22, 1956, last-day cancellations were made in the historic “toy-like” post office.
Virginia Butterfield became postmaster in the new enlarged building on Feb. 6th 1956. This building is also on display next to the world’s smallest post office on Washington Street in downtown Mountain Ranch.
In 1982 the new enlarged post office was built to accommodate the population increase plus the closing of the Sheep Ranch post office.
Luellan Del Papa was the post master at that time and there has been a series of post masters ever since.
Luellan retired in 1990 and will be remembered as the last of the old time public servants. Over 300 people attended her retirement party at the Mountain Ranch Park.
Wally Matlock has put together a very interesting display of the story of post offices in Calaveras County which is at the Mountain Ranch Post Office for your viewing pleasure. We now have 5 buildings on Washington Street in Mountain Ranch that are or have been a Post Office and one building that no longer exists. We believe there is not another town in CA that can make that claim.
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