From time to time there have been articles about the transcontinental
telegraph line (circa 1860-1869) in the western United States. I wish to direct
your attention to some insulator findings by some non-collectors
(archaeologists) in Nevada. The specific sites are Cold Springs and Sand Springs
Stations. The two stations served as stops on the short-lived Pony Express
route, and the Sand Springs site later became a telegraph station.
In the late
1970's there was an archaeological excavation of the Sand Springs Station. This
site was covered over by sand from the windblown dunes of that area. Among the
artifacts uncovered in the rooms of that station were pieces of the threadless
Goodyear hard rubber insulator.
The following excerpt is taken from a report on
the dig:
"The documentary record of Sand Springs gives evidence that the building
was used as a telegraph station as well as a stage and Pony Express station,
probably from the end of July, 1861 until the line was discontinued. An 1868
survey of Township 17N Range 32E, Section 31 , on Fourmile Flat just west of the
site shows a telegraph line running on a course that would intercept Sand
Springs Station. The remnants of the line can still be seen today, although it was removed from the sand dunes in the immediate vicinity
of the building during the early part of the century. Archaeological evidence
from Sand Springs suggests that it was used for telegraphing. Two vulcanite
fragments from room 3 are part of a flange on a Goodyear's "peg type"
telegraph insulator popular during the 1850's. A third hard rubber artifact from
room 1 is also part of a peg type insulator."
The Sand Springs Station served as a Pony Express station as well as a telegraph station, as some of them
did. Both stations were on a trail known as the Central Overland Route.
The Cold
Springs Station was mapped out by the same team of archaeologists. At this site,
the telegraph station and Pony Express Station were two separate buildings and not next to each other. What is interesting
about this station is that the cartographer has included on the map the
approximate route of the telegraph line. Evidently, at the time this report was
written, the line could be visualized.
This same line has yielded the wooden
block Ramshorn and CD 735.3 Chester- U.S. Tel Co. This would be a good project
for any ambitious collector to check out.
Bibliography: The Pony Express in Central Nevada: Archaeological and Documentary
Perspectives. Donald L. Hardesty.
BLM, Reno, NV 1979.
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