Idaho Postal History

Most of the material in this web page will pertain to Idaho or at least the Pacific Northwest.

ZIP codes were implemented July 1, 1963, I have not looked for any ZIP code postmark but probably should get some as early as I can.


Moscow Circular Date Stamps

The purpose of this page is to collect as many diffrent date stamps from Moscow as I can. There is a lot of variation in the time, date and city placement as well as the formats. A simple example is a comparison of the 1898 and 1904 CDS below. I will make some comments about these differences when I have the time. There are more different formats under the Covers tab.
Hover to enlarge the postmarks

A rimless postmark for Moscow and two more obsolete postmarks for Latah County

This is an interesting letter sent from the District Court in Moscow to Robert B Francis in Anderson, ID, which is an old name for Deary. This cover has two obsolete postmarks on it and the Mocow postmark is a rimless CDS which is not very common.

Compare this postmark from 1897 with the one in the page header for 1898. Pretty much the same except the 1897 is rimless. I have no information on the use of the rimless postmark as of Nov 2021.


This cover was mailed from Moscow at 6PM, 27 Dec 1897.


The first backstamp is 6 AM, 28 Dec 1897 at Vollmer which is the original name for Troy. Vollmer was renamed as Troy 1 April 1898. Obviously, the mail for eastern Latah County traveled overnight. Did it go by truck or train (probably WIM train)?


The second backstamp is 30 Dec 1897 (no time mark) at Anderson which is one of the early names for Deary. Anderson was established 3 Mar 1893 and renamed as Deary on 12 Sept 1900. The actual post office moved quite a ways as Anderson is 7 or 8 miles SW of Deary (sec 1-T38N-R2W)


27 Dec was a Monday and the letter arrived in Anderson on Thursday. since all three postmarks are in the same county, it is easy to visualize the route taken by this cover.


(cover obtained from the 2021 PNWPHS auction)