by Drew Desmond, for the Western Heritage Foundation
As 1873 dawned, at the behest of Gen. George Crook, Arizona’s delegate to the U.S. House Robert McCormick requested Congress to construct a telegraph line to connect the military posts of Arizona.
In February, a bill was passed allocating $50,000 (over $2 million today) “to construct a military telegraph from San Diego to Fort Yuma and thence into the interior of Arizona,” the Weekly Arizona Miner reported.
In late May, Western Union signed a contract providing an additional $150,000. Morris Goldwater, Prescott Mayor, volunteered to provide a Phoenix office free of charge and a battery, if need be.
Work started in San Diego, but Gen. Crook and others saw no reason to wait for the live telegraph line to reach Prescott, and it was decided to start raising a wire at the Fort Whipple end.
Beneath the first pole erected at Fort Whipple, a time capsule was buried that included “a copy of the Arizona Miner, and one of the Arizona Citizen … (as well as) copies of orders issued by Gen. Crook upon the conclusion of his campaign against the Apaches, and a roster of officers serving at this date in the Department of Arizona,” the Miner catalogued.
On Sept. 2, 1873, a large crowd gathered in front of Gen. Crook’s headquarters. At 10 o’clock, Mrs. Crook broke the ground. In a few minutes, the work crew had erected three poles and stretched a wire.
On Nov. 11, “The military telegraph line was completed between Yuma and Prescott. The first military messages over the line announced and congratulated Lt. Gen. Crook on his new promotion to Brigadier General,” the Miner chronicled.
It was Nov. 18 when the wire from San Diego to Yuma was completed. The first dispatch from San Diego was received at Fort Whipple about 3 p.m., Nov. 19, at which time a gun was fired in honor of the event. Prescott was connected to the world.
The arrival of the telegraph caused another “Prescott first.” On Dec. 1, 1873, the first regular daily newspaper in the territory, the Daily Arizona Miner, was born.
Because concerned citizens donated to the cause of bringing Arizona online (mostly providing the poles), the final cost to the federal government was only $45,000 of the $50,000 Congress appropriated.
As for the time capsule, I was unable to find any account of its recovery. What an amazing find that would be!
