By Tom Collins
It was September 2, 1873, and a huge crowd of citizens and soldiers alike had assembled at Fort Whipple. The ladies from the post made the occasion festive with their presence and the 23rd Infantry Band was on hand in full uniform, adding the charms of music to the already joyful scene. At 10:00 a.m., the wife of General Crook took up a shovel and turned the sod while the wife of General Dana performed the baptism by braking a bottle of champagne over the first telegraph pole in Prescott.
In just a few minutes, Lieutenant J.F. Trout and Mr. Wisdom planted the first three poles, the wires stretched upon them, with the onlookers shouting out three celebratory cheers. Speeches marked the occasion, the first by John Marion, editor of the Arizona Weekly Journal-Miner. Azor H. Nickerson, General George Crook's valiant captain in the Indian Wars, was called upon to speak on the General's behalf. Explaining that the general did the work and expected him to do the talking, he launched into an eloquent speech, part of which is reproduced here from the Miner, September 6th:
"Armies are usually engines of destruction. They tear up railways, pull down telegraph wires, blow up bridges, and obstruct highways. But, fortunately for us and the country, they only do these things when necessary to accomplish the end for which they are fighting, and, of course, that end is peace. We war only that we may have peace. Hence it is that to-day we find the army of the United States engaged in promoting the arts of peace. The force under command of Gen. Crook, having soothed the savage breast of the great Apache, is now building roads through hitherto unknown sections; and to-day they are here for the purpose of erecting the first telegraph pole in Arizona. Truly our army to-day is an army of peace, and the importance of the works it is now engaged in cannot be overestimated. We may regard this as one of its most important works. And as we look into the future who shall begin to tell what Arizona may not be able to produce for the country and the world. Glad then are we of the army to have a share in this work, a work of peace; and when, in a very short time, we shall flash our messages over these wires to our friends abroad, I pray God they may all be messages of peace."
At the foot of the first pole, a box containing a printed statement, along with a copy of the Arizona Miner and the Arizona Citizen - along with copies of orders issued by General Crook upon the conclusion of his campaign against the Apaches - and a roster of officers serving at that date in the Department of Arizona, were buried with due ceremony. The printed statement began, according to the Miner, September 13th, "This, the first pole of the telegraph line, to connect Prescott and the Territory of Arizona with San Francisco and civilization, was placed in position at 11 o'clock, Tuesday, September 2nd, 1873, in the presence of Lieutenant-Colonel and Brevet Major-General George Crook, commanding Department of Arizona." The rest of the officers - including Second Lieutenant John G. Bourke, Third Cavalry and Aide-de Camp to Gen. Crook - were also listed, and the occasion and its significance described in detail.
It was indeed an historic moment and its importance should not be underestimated for it brought Prescott and the Arizona Territory into the modern world of telecommunications of the time. No longer would Prescottonians have to wait for a week or more to hear news of the outside world via Pony Express, and no longer would the other states and territories have an excuse to look down on Prescott and the Arizona Territory as a wild, isolated, barbaric wasteland. The humanity of its people, its fledgling efforts to establish the amenities of Atlantic coast culture, its struggle to achieve a peaceful relationship with Native Americans and to mine the riches of Arizona's vast mineral resources could be made known to the rest of civilized America within minutes on a daily basis.
The advent of the telegraph had been long and impatiently anticipated for, although the project had been authorized in early 1873, progress seemed inexplicably slow. On August 23, 1873, John Marion editorialized, "It is high time to commence building the proposed telegraph lines. Poles are stretched along a good deal of the route from Prescott to Phoenix, some of the wire has already reached Fort Whipple,...." A week later, hope surged with the report that George H. Wilson and R.H. Howe had left San Diego on August 10th for Prescott to commence the military telegraph. Wilson would be foreman of construction and Howe would serve as electrician.
On November 11, 1873, workers completed the military telegraph line between Yuma and Prescott. Major General J.M.Schofield sent the first telegram conveying the congratulations of the Secretary of War upon Crook's promotion to Brigadier General. R.R.Haines, Superintendent of Construction for the project, added his praises, promising the speedy completion of the line between San Diego and Tucson within the month. John Marion of the Miner reported, "Scarcely a year has passed since General Crook thought it would be a grand move in aid of civilization and white supremacy in this Territory to connect its main towns and military posts by telegraph, with one another and with the States."
For the sum of about $50,000, squeezed out of the national purse by General Sherman and President Grant,..."thanks to the good, economical working and planning of the builders will, we believe, come very near completing and equipping over 600 miles of telegraph through a sparsely settled country, in the hottest part of a very hot year." And the Miner of November 15th stated, "Oh, this is grand, glorious, this lightning move forward."
As promised, on November 18th, Prescott was connected to San Diego and the rest of the world with the work having been done by soldiers under civilian foremen. It took 167 days. General J.J. Dana, Chief Quartermaster of the Department of Arizona, lauded the effort, "Remembering the great distances the poles and material had to be moved, the difficulties of supplying working parties with water and forage on the dry, barren plains, and the intense heat which has prevailed most of the time, the completion of the line thus early, surprises all, even those who have borne the heat and burden of the day." Dana also promised that the branch line to Tucson from Maricopa Wells would be completed by the first week of December.
As the Yuma newspaper reported on November 22nd, the new telegraph would enable General Crook "to handle his forces and control Indians much better than formerly. By it he will be able to confer with his superiors in San Francisco and Washington, and to hear from them immediately, whereas, it has formerly taken weeks and months to do so. Not alone all these things, it has placed our Territory cheek by jowl with other lightning served States and Territories, whose capitalists, now that they can hear from us every day, will invest in our mines and, in other ways, aid us to conquer this aged wilderness." Lest this commentary be perceived as overly racist (although the newspapers were generally unapologetic on this score), the Yuma reporter added that Crook had "saved the scalp of many an Arizonan and the lives of many Apaches."
Following this rhetorical bombast, the November 29th Miner dealt with the practical matter of telegraphic communication for the general public with fees as follows: From Prescott to San Diego, $1.50 for 10 words; to Yuma $1.25; Tucson $1.25, Florence $1.00; Maricopa Wells $1.00, Phoenix $1.00 and Wickenburg $0.75. For each additional five words (or fraction thereof) the rate would be 75 cents, more or less, depending upon the original rate. It was now possible for citizens to communicate instantly from distant cities about matters of family health and other urgent issues.
It took another year (November 8, 1874) to complete the line between Fort Verde and Fort Whipple, which appears, in hindsight, to be a peculiar oversight in priority. The relationship between the two forts was a close one and military personnel frequently moved from one to the other and combined forces in subduing hostile natives.
On January 8, 1875, the Miner reported that the "greatest triumph of telegraphy ever achieved in Arizona was accomplished by Messrs. Kearny of Fort Whipple, and Strauchon of Tucson," over a two-day period. These two gentlemen transmitted Governor Safford's message, the largest telegram ever received by an Arizona newspaper, amounting to no less than 5,450 words, all of which was placed in type in the Miner office on the second day!
The new communication device, it should be noted, was neither permanent nor flawless. The construction work was in some places shoddy; lines had been strung from tree to tree in some places. Wire-thieving Pimas disconnected stations for weeks at a time, disrupting both business and military communications. To compound the problem, gusting desert winds frequently blew down the telegraph poles.
The "lightning service" arrived curiously late to the southwest: nearly thirty years after its successful implementation in the east. But Samuel Morse's brilliant invention revolutionized life in Arizona, boosted Prescott's mining industry and accelerated the cessation of hostilities between native Arizonans and the Anglo-European settlers who made their fortunes here.
Tom Collins, a Professor Emeritus of Theatre, is the author of "Stage-Struck Settlers in the Sun-Kissed Land", an illustrated history of amateur theatre in Territorial Prescott.
Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(mil225p)
Reuse only by permission.
Portrait of (left to right) Second Lieutenant John G. Bourke (Third Cavalry and Aide-de-camp to General Crook), Azor H. Nickerson (General Crook's valiant captain in the Indian Wars) and General George Crook, c. 1875.