Yellowstone Hotel Owney tag

Owney was a scruffy mutt who became a regular fixture at the Albany, New York, post office in 1888. His owner was likely a postal clerk who let the dog walk him to work. Owney was attracted to the texture or scent of the mailbags and when his master moved away, Owney stayed with his new mail clerk friends. He soon began to follow mailbags, first onto mail wagons and then mail trains. Owney began to ride with the bags on Railway Mail Service (RMS) trains across the state . . . and then the country! The Railway Mail Service clerks adopted Owney as their unofficial mascot.

Postal workers and others began to mark Owney’s travels by placing tokens, tags, and medals on his collar. These items included baggage check and hotel room key tokens, dog licenses, and numerous items given to the dog by a variety of individuals and organizations.

Owney’s travels may have taken him to Yellowstone National Park, but as far as is known by his tokens, this may be as close as he got to that famous area. He probably received this hotel key token while visiting the Yellowstone Hotel in Glendive, Montana. The town is located near the border of Montana and North Dakota. The town was a stop along the Northern Pacific Railroad during Owney’s lifetime. The token itself was manufactured by “NW Stamp Works,” a northwest company that also manufactured police badges, rubber stamps for city offices, date stamps, and dog license tokens.

Markings:
YELLOWSTONE / HOTEL / 20 / GLENDIVE M.T.

Museum ID: 0.052985.69