Slow Mail, Delivering Letters in California via Horseback

Slow Mail is a project to deliver letters from Northern to Southern California the old fashioned way—via horseback riders. Teams of riders and packhorses will relay mailbags between Menlo Park and Los Angeles. The project is a callback to both California’s frontier past and its role in the origins of the Internet. The mail route mirrors the first message on ARPANET, an Internet precursor, which was sent between Menlo Park and Los Angles back in 1969.

A Slow Mail pilot ride will take place September 12 through 15 between Menlo Park and San Jose as part of the ZERO1 Biennial. Letters can be submitted online and postage is $5. The project was created by Sara Thacher.

Submitted by Jason Schupp