09/15/2026
🐊 HISTORY & HERITAGE: SPECIAL DELIVERY—ONE ALLIGATOR!
Of all the packages ever handled by the Sarles Post Office, one that arrived in 1955 may have had the most teeth!
According to an item published in the Sarles Advocate on May 26, 1955, Corky George received an alligator from Florida. It was a gift from Byron D. Martz, who had visited Florida the previous winter.
Now, how do you suppose an alligator made its way from Florida all the way to Sarles, North Dakota?
By parcel-post airmail!
I can only imagine the conversation at the post office when that package arrived.
The little creature quickly became a curiosity around town. It had to be kept somewhere that stayed at least 70 degrees and reportedly ate about a teaspoon of hamburger each week.
Here is where the story gets a little confusing.
The newspaper first called it an alligator but later called it a crocodile.
Maybe it simply depended on when people saw it.
If they were going to see it later, it was an alligator.
If they were going to see it in a while, it was a crocodile!
The story doesn’t tell us how large it was, where Corky kept it or how long it lived in Sarles.
And, of course, now I have questions.
What exactly do you ship an alligator in?
Did everyone know what was inside before it was opened?
And what eventually happened to it?
Surely someone in the Sarles area remembers hearing about Corky George and the alligator that arrived through the mail.
If you know the rest of this story, we would love to hear it!
📖 Source: Sarles and Area History, referencing the Sarles Advocate, May 26, 1955, p. 316.
