Aviation Exhibition cover
Walter Edwards flew the Northwest's first authorized mail a distance of about seven miles (from Portland's Country Club race track to Vancouver's parade grounds) at the Country Club Aviation Exhibition, held August 10-11, 1912. He flew a 60-hp Curtiss aeroplane on the route that the Post Office Department designated as No. 673,001. An Aviation Station postmark was used, as was a US Aeroplane Mail Service cachet. Edwards flew 1,500 pieces of mail on August 10 and 2,500 pieces of mail on August 11.
Edwards flew this piece of mail from Portland on August 11. It bears a six-line cachet that reads, "US Aeroplane / Mail Service / THIS LETTER CARRIED BY / AVIATOR WALTER EDWARDS / FROM PORTLAND, OREGON TO / VANCOUVER, WASH." Officials in Portland applied the black, circular postmark at 4 p.m.
