GIRL MAIL CARRIERS
Courage on the Trails: Two Young Women Who Delivered the U.S. Mail Against All Odds
At the turn of the twentieth century, the most isolated mail routes in America were not for the faint-hearted. They wound through barren deserts, rattled across open prairie, threaded along lonely canyons, and ran through land where weather, wildlife, and human danger tested every rider who dared take the contract.
Yet two young women—one in Kansas, the other in the rugged Arizona Territory—stepped forward with grit, resourcefulness, and a quiet fearlessness that startled the newspapers of their day.
Their names were Lena McBride and Sarah “Sallie” Burks, and their stories reveal the steady-handed bravery of girls who simply got the job done.
Miss Lena McBride, Age 17 — Kansas Trailblazer
Randolph Enterprise, Randolph, Kansas — August 11, 1904
At just 17 years old, Lena McBride drove a 60-mile route three times a week, carrying the U.S. mail from Colby to Oak Ranch. The paper called her “Kansas’ youngest girl mail carrier,” but Lena seemed unconcerned with novelty. She was there to work.
By November, newspapers reported that she had adopted a clever system to keep the demanding route on schedule. Lena drove her buggy 15 miles with one horse, switched to a second for the next stretch, and repeated the change during the return trip. Her buggy became such a fixture along the trail that cattle herders and farmers recognized it on sight.
Then came the moment that revealed the steel in her spine.
A new ranch owner strung barbed wire across the trail, blocking Lena’s mail route. She climbed down, pulled out a pair of wire cutters, and snipped all four strands. When the rancher repaired the fence, she cut it again.
He confronted her, angry and threatening arrest.
Lena stood her ground.
“I am carrying the United States mail, and I am going through if I can get through!”
The next time she rode out, she discovered something new:
The man had installed a gate.
Lena passed through—and continued her tri-weekly service without further interruption.
Miss Sarah “Sallie” M. Burks, Age 23 — Arizona’s Fearless Rider
Monticello Herald, Monticello, Indiana — March 8, 1900
When Sarah Burks’ father fell seriously ill in 1898, the family lost not only its head of household but also its breadwinner. Sarah—23 years old—quietly took over his 65-mile mail route from St. John’s to Jimtown, Arizona, riding it twice a week through one of the most forbidding landscapes in the West.
She kept the contract for over two years, supporting her invalid father and younger siblings.
San Francisco Examiner, February 17, 1901
Reporters described the Arizona desert as a “most fearsome place” for a woman to travel alone. But Sarah did not traffic in drama. She rode because she had work to do.
She armed herself with two revolvers—one in a holster on her belt, the other tucked into her saddlebag. She proved her skill by shooting six consecutive bullets through a playing card at thirty paces.
“I’d as soon think of starting out without my mail bags as without my revolver.”
Her clothing was practical and purposeful: a wide-brim straw hat, short skirts of blue serge, a corduroy jacket, leather leggings, and heavy shoes. The mail pouch was fastened behind the saddle.
When asked about the threat of bandits, Sarah dismissed the idea with dry humor:
“No, I have no fear of bandits.
The mail I carry never has anything valuable in it, and I let that fact be known everywhere.”
Besides, she said, the land itself hardly supported life:
“The country through which I travel is so utterly good-for-nothing that a jack rabbit would have a hard rustle for a living in it.”
A Desert Rescue
Pittsburgh Weekly Gazette, March 30, 1902
By 1902, Sarah’s name was known “far and wide” across the Arizona Territory. Reporters emphasized that she performed “a labor that few men would dare” and did it without theatrics—simply because her family depended on her wage.
One day, Sarah heard a groan near the trail and discovered a wounded man lying near a boulder. His companion—dead nearby—had quarreled with him, settling it with knives and bullets.
Sarah approached cautiously. She offered him half her extra canteen of water, crafted a makeshift shelter, and washed his wounds to ease his pain. Then she continued on her route, but alerted the Jimtown constable who rode out to investigate.
It was a small act of mercy in a hard land—and typical of Sarah Burks.
Why It Matters
Lena McBride and Sarah Burks were not looking for headlines. They stepped into difficult, often dangerous work simply because their communities and families depended on them.
In an era when girlhood was imagined as fragile and sheltered, these young women:
drove 60–65 miles of isolated routes alone
managed weather, animals, and human threats
maintained U.S. mail schedules with near-military precision
confronted ranchers, navigated deserts, armed themselves when necessary
supported families with their labor
earned reputations for courage, competence, and unwavering reliability
Their stories remind us that American grit has never been the sole province of men.
Long before “women’s work” shifted in the modern era, girls like Lena and Sarah were already proving—quietly and decisively—that they could meet the nation’s challenges head-on.
Sources
Randolph Enterprise, Randolph, Kansas, August 11, 1904; Pittsburgh Press, November 13, 1904; Monticello Herald, Monticello, Indiana, March 8, 1900; San Francisco Examiner, February 17, 1901;Pittsburgh Weekly Gazette, March 30, 1902.
Images
For Lena McBride (Kansas)
1. Randolph Enterprise (Randolph, Kansas), August 11, 1904.
Article identifying Lena McBride, age 17, as Kansas’ youngest girl mail carrier and describing her 60-mile tri-weekly route from Colby to Oak Ranch.
2. The Pittsburgh Press (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), November 13, 1904.
Article describing Lena’s horse-changing system, her familiarity along the route, and the confrontation with the ranch owner involving the barbed-wire fence.
For Sarah “Sallie” M. Burks (Arizona)
3. Monticello Herald (Monticello, Indiana), March 8, 1900.
Coverage describing how Sallie took over her father’s 65-mile mail route between St. Johns and Jimtown after he fell ill.
4. San Francisco Examiner (San Francisco, California), February 17, 1901.
Feature article describing Sallie’s courage, her desert route, her revolvers, her marksmanship, and her practical clothing.
5. Pittsburgh Weekly Gazette (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), March 30, 1902.
Report calling Sallie’s route "the most dangerous," emphasizing her reputation across Arizona, and recounting the rescue of the wounded man near the trail.
** Illustrations created by History in Two Voices for educational purposes.