The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1897-12-19

sections-in magnetic touch, had been
in operation four years, when in 1866
the Western Union company extended
its overland system from Salt Lake
to Montana. The line was completed to
Virginia City in September, where an
office was opened, with Barney Hughes
as manager. In the autumn of 1861
after having spent some time in San
Francisco, Virginia, New, and Salt
Lake offices, on the pioneer line, the
writer came to Montana and took
charge of the Virginia City office The
first line to connect this far northwest
territory with the outside world fol-
lowed the stage road, as did the Over
land. The stage and the telegraph in
those days We're to each other, in the
successful operation of their respective
enterprises, what the railroads and tel
egraph are at the present time-closely
allied And although the stage coach
was not moved by telegraph as are
the railroad trains of to-day, the
movements of the stage coach We're
eagerly sought and promptly reported,
station by station, by telegraph be-
tween Salt Lake and the Montana end
of the long journey.
In the summer of 1857 John Creighton
of Omaha built a line between Virginia
City and Helena, and in September of
that year he turned it over to the
Western Union company, when an Of
flee was opened in the metropolis OF
the territory, with S. A. Wiley in
charge. This line also followed the
stage road through the Sinking Wat
er (now RUBY by way of old White
Tail station and across Boulder divide.
What with only one wire, strung upon
quaking asp poles, traversing an al
most uninhabited region, it was not an
uncommon thing to be without wire;
this announcement didn't arouse righ-
teous Indignation in those days-the
good patrons of the telegraph quietly
calmly and religiously submitted to the
inevitable 1t was an open issue be-
tween one single wire and the elements.
with chances always in favor of the
latter. If the prodigal patron-it then
cost s. to send 10 words to the States
filed a telegram and received an arr
swer in a weeks time. he was perfect
~ well satisfied; they didn't go off and
hate the manager and curse the tele-
graph company. The newspaper people,
too. telegraph editors and all, We're con-
descending and would accept most any
kind of 30" The Montana Post at
Virginia City, and Independent and
Herald at Helena. We're served with
about 1000 words of Associated Press
daily. Captain James II. Mills was
editor of the Post. He also edited the
telegraph-when there was any to edit:
when there was not the Post made its
tf1-Weekly DOW TO the S0Od people OF
Alder Gulch and vicinity just the same
There was no great fuss and feathers
because the stirring events of the en-
tire civilized. semi-civilized and heather
globe weren't placed before them at
the breakfast table
Our one wire was Frustrated for one
long lingering period of Is days in
March. 1868. The break" occurred on
the old Bannack road between Virginia
City and Pleasant Valley. The line
men could not go after the trouble be-
cause Of the blizzards which tied up
stages and linemen alike. The latter
usually went out on horseback. This
time he travelled on snowshoes, reach
ca the break and repaired it without
climbing a pole, the depth Of the snow
making it easy for him TO reach the
Wire Such remarkable feats of restor-
ing Geographic communication were not
uncommon those days, or even few
years later Hon. Lee Mantle often
hoasted of having climbed nearly every
telegraph pole in the old line between
Malad and Pleasant Valley. while in the
line repair service in the 10s- Later on
Lee doomed up in Butte as telegraph
operator. This was in 1879.
=. 4. Largey extended his private line
system from Deer Lodge to Butte. he
having built a line from Helena 70 Deer