1870s Phoenix Oregon CDS Cover to Jacob Ish Jacksonville - 3c Bank Note Pen GB51 For Sale

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A crisp orange-buff cover carried barely half a dozen miles across the Rogue Valley, from the little milling town of Phoenix, Oregon, to Jacob Ish, Esq. at Jacksonville — the gold-rush county seat of Jackson County — franked with a 3¢ green Washington Bank Note and struck with a bold Phoenix circular datestamp.

1. Postal Markings & Operational Analysis

The Format: A commercially made envelope in deep orange-buff (\"manila\") wove paper, approximately 5 3/8 x 3 1/8 inches (about 136 x 79 mm) as measured against the ruler, with a plain pointed back flap. The address is written in an accomplished, flourished clerical hand in black ink, and a light pencil docket runs sideways along the left end. A few small scattered stains and light edge wrinkles are present; the back is clean and undisturbed.

The Origin Postmark: A complete, sharply struck circular datestamp reads PHOENIX / OCT 17 / OREG. — town name across the top arc, state abbreviation across the bottom, month and day on two lines in the center. As was typical of small offices of the period, the dial carries no year date, so the year must be inferred from the stamp, the rate and the recipient (see below).

The Franking: A 3¢ green Washington of the Bank Note series (the Scott 147 / 158 / 184 family, depending on printing and paper), perf 12, at the upper right. The stamp is cancelled by a single heavy manuscript pen stroke drawn diagonally across Washington\'s portrait and continuing onto the envelope — the classic small-office expedient when the clerk did not reach for a killer, and a feature collectors of rural western postal history look for. The circular datestamp was struck separately and clear of the stamp, which leaves the dial fully legible.

Postal Rates & Law: The 3¢ franking is the standard domestic first-class rate of 3 cents per half ounce, any distance within the United States, established by the Act of March 3, 1863 (effective July 1, 1863) and in force until the Act of March 3, 1883 lowered the rate to 2 cents effective October 1, 1883. Distance was irrelevant under that law, which is part of the charm here: the full nationwide rate was paid on a letter that traveled only a few miles between two neighboring Rogue Valley towns.

Payment Status: Fully prepaid by adhesive; no \"due,\" forwarding or carrier markings. Transit / Receiving Marks: None — the reverse is clean, as expected on a single-leg journey between two offices on the same local route.

The Destination Address, transcribed as written:
Jacob Ish Esq,
Jacksonville
Jackson Co,
Oregon

2. Historical Significance

The Recipient: Jacob Ish (1823–1881) is a documented Jackson County figure. Genealogical and cemetery records give his birth in Loudoun County, Virginia, in June 1823 and his death at Jacksonville, Oregon, in early March 1881, with burial in the Jacksonville Cemetery. Published memorial material records that Ish left Virginia around the Civil War years and settled near Jacksonville, where the family acquired a very large ranch — land that included ground later occupied by the Rogue Valley/Medford airport — and that he became well known as a livestock producer and a provisioner of beef to the troops at Fort Klamath. A letter addressed to him as \"Esq.\" from a neighboring town fits that standing. Because Ish died in March 1881 and the 3¢ rate ran to October 1883, the October 17 datestamp here can only belong to a year in the 1870s or 1880; the exact year is not recoverable from the markings.

The Origin: Phoenix lies in the Rogue Valley a few miles from Jacksonville. The area was settled about 1850–51 by the brothers Hiram and Samuel Colver, and Samuel Colver laid out the town in 1854; for a time the settlement was known locally as \"Gasburg,\" a nickname from its mill-hand days, with milling and creek mining driving the early economy. The Destination: Jacksonville began in 1851–52 as a placer mining camp on Jackson Creek, grew into the commercial and legal center of southern Oregon, and held county-seat status until Medford took that role in the twentieth century; its post office, opened in 1854, is the oldest continuously operating office in Jackson County, and the town today is a National Historic Landmark. This cover is a small, tangible artifact of that mature Rogue Valley community: a short local letter between the mill town and the courthouse town, handled by a clerk with a datestamp and a pen.

3. Transcription

There is no enclosed letter; the envelope is empty. Beyond the address panel transcribed above, the only other writing is the faint sideways pencil docket at the left edge, which appears to read [J. S. ?] / [Letter] — a filing note of the kind recipients commonly added. It is too lightly written for a confident reading and is offered as a partial transcription only.

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