twlclife.html

The Goldendale Sentinel, Goldendale, WA., June 29, 1944, page 1

TUNE WYERS LEADS COLORFUL LIFE

Tune Wyers, whose fiftieth year of service as a mail-carrier is being celebrated July 2, at Glenwood, has led as colorful and interesting a life as anyone could read in any book or magazine.
Wyers came to White Salmon when it was a settlement of three houses, one of which housed and entire tribe of Indians. At that time he started carrying the mail to Glenwood by horseback, using the pony express system of having relay stations to secure were fresh horses.
During his course of fifty years, he has seen in this small primitive village grow into a fair-sized incorporated town, and has seen the replacement of his Indian ponies by a fleet of modern trucks, 14 in all. His life has come to be identified with two words, Faithful Service.

IS POSSE MEMBER

Today, at 68, Tune Wyers is a vigorous man. He enjoys horses, and is a member of the Klickitat County Sheriff's Posse.
Every youngster in the west end of the county knows him. When he walks down the street, it is, "Hello Tune!" He is a great kidder. With a serious mein, he will lower his head, look out of the tops of his eyes, and; with a few expletives added, "This is getting to be a nuisance."
"This ride business seems to have gone way beyond me," he said, "as I just said I would like to make my old ride again. People are nuts about stuff like this. They picked it up, the first thing you know, they started having a celebration."
He was born in the town of the Zeevenaar, Holland in 1876, and when he was but a lad of 12, came to the United States without being able to speak a word of English. He worked in the hay fields of Kansas for several years, and then came to the land of opportunity, the West.

IS TOO YOUNG

"Being too young is to get a mail contract at the age of 18, I started carrying a mail for a man named Travis, who made a business of bidding on star routes to relet."
On Wyers' famous first ride, of July 2, 1884, he did not even know where Glenwood was, but just started out, following a rather vague set of directions. The change was made at George Gilmer's valley home along the way, where Tune also had his noon meal. When he finally arrived at his destination, he was served his dinner by Mrs. Adelaid Howe, then Mrs. Schultz. Mrs. Howe cooked for sheepmen, and for anyone who happen to venture that way.
When he arrived in Glenwood he saw the people erecting a platform for their Fourth of July celebration. When Wyers makes his ride again this year, he will find upon entering the town the same thing … people celebrating not only the Fourth, but also his arrival.

STUCK FOR FOUR DAYS

On one has hazardous trip during the winter of 1895, it took him four days to get through. Settlers helped him break trail in the seven feet of snow. Meanwhile, with no communications, the people at home and at Glenwood where fearing for his safety.
"My first equipment was three cayuses. The first one I got as payment for breaking to wild Colts, the second was bought for eight dollars, and the third I traded for a pig and two boxes of apple."
His first contract called for three round trips a week over the thirty-five mile route, which was then the only one. He never missed a trip in eighteen months. With few houses, no telephones, no one to break the roads for him, he often times found unexpected adventure. During that first winter, the snow was six feet deep.
He learned to judge horses for their ability to get through deep snow drifts. Many horses overstep in the snow, that is they cannot judge distance, and place their hind feet so far forward that they step on their front feet, and naturally keel forward. Wyers has had the experience of having his horse give out under him. On one such experience, he had to leave his horse, lift in the mail pouch onto his own back, then continue the trip on snow shoes.

PARCEL POST STARTS

The post office department made a change in the service about 1905 which included parcel post, and the department financed this extra burden, which proved to be more financially renumerative to Wyers.
Being an excellent judge of horses, Wyers was able to outbid his competitors. He bought them in numbers, mated good horses, and produced a stock which would sell for many times the original price.
"By 1910, I had 100 head of horses, with 80 in the harness. Two of my routes were about 35 miles, on which I used four-horse teams and a coach. I used six-horse teams to carry the freight. "
With the profit from his horse sales, he purchased his own half-way ranch, and later other ranches as well. At his half-way station, any passengers were given a meal and a place to rest. He improved his status constantly buying them most primitive of arts, horse-swapping.

CARS CAUSE CHANGE

With the advent of the World war, the horseless carriage caused a drastic change in Wyers' life. The horse was replaced by the automobile and the truck, but only for the summer months, as the snow was still a handicap during the long and Mt. Adams winters. During the summer, he rented his horses to farmers for their harvesting, and to the Forest Service.
His many holdings were converted to cattle ranches. Wyers does not manage them; rather, with his son-in-law, R.R. Kreps running 6,000, he runs 500 head of cattle.
In addition to his mail route and his ranches, Wyers runs the school buses.
Tune Wyers has two daughters, Mrs. R.R. Kreps (Marie Wyers) and Miss Gertrude Wyers, who teaches in the White Salmon high school. He had given up his bachelorhood about the same time he gave up the lone steed, and was married in 1902 to Olga Lauterbach. His older brother, John, also lives in White Salmon.
Wyers has five grandchildren: Marguerite, Olga Jane, Mary Lou, Oliver Teunis and Russell Wyers Kreps.

SERVED MANY POSTMASTERS

Tune Wyers has carried mail under 48 postmasters. They are:

White Salmon - R. Lauterbach, L. Blowers, C.M. Wolfard, G. Crow, Mrs. C.H. Estes, Robert Robertson, Genevieve Maurer, Bernard Pollard,, Mildred Hansen.

Bingen - G. Famelos, Harold Lewis.

Guler - Chris Guler, J.E. Reynolds, Miss Alvord, Chas. Moore, Patrick, J.A. Jermaine.

Gilmer: Mrs. Whitcomb, George Gilmer, C.E. Ivan.

Fulda - C.B. Dymond, Sam Shockley.

Laurel - Chester Grover, C. Duff, Amy Patton.

Snowden - Frank Lilly, Sutton, W. Lindell.

Husum, Chas. Gregory, Minnis Williams, W. Blole, M. Carmine, Geo. Kreps, Mamie Kreps.

Bristol - Geo. White, Geo. Cuskey, Connors.

Dorr - B.K. Door

Glenwood - T.J. Shaw, G.G. Bowen, J.H. Blew, Jas. Parrott, Mary Dean, D.M. Tresmer, Geo. W. Smith, Neva Vanbibber, Geo. Dean.

Panacanic - Jas. Murray, Lucille Tickler