“Arrows to Atoms” mail train

Set of black & white negatives of “Arrows to Atoms” mail train. Photographs printed in McClung darkroom. Also includes copies of newspaper articles about the mail train.

A horse and wagon mail train that originated in Knoxville (Tenn.) 28 July 1958. It was intended to go to Los Angeles by special approval of the U.S. Postal Service to commemorate the overland mail delivery which was discontinued in the early 1860s. The plan was not successful and the mail train hit trouble in El Paso (Texas) and the rest of the mail was delivered via regular mail channels. It was revived in 1961 to finish the journey.