The story of Jeptha Wade and his insulators is a long one, and for that reason it will be told in two parts. Part one will consist of his association with telegraph companies and the construction of telegraph lines. Part two will deal primarily with the Wade type insulators. 

Jeptha H. Wade was born on August 11, 1811, in Seneca County, New York. In his early years, he had various jobs, starting with a job in a brickyard. He later became a carpenter, and still later a portrait painter. I find it very interesting that Wade and Samuel Morse, the inventor of the telegraph in this country, were both artists before entering the telegraph field. In the 1840's, Jeptha Wade traveled along the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, from town to town, earning his way by painting portraits. During the winter, Wade "migrated" in a southerly direction to warmer climates, and upon arrival of summer, he returned once again to Michigan. 

In the year 1847 he entered what was to become a great occupation involved with the telegraph. In that year the telegraph was barely "on its feet". In 1847 he became involved with John James Speed, Jr., a contractor for a telegraph company known as the Erie & Michigan. The Erie & Michigan Telegraph Company was involved in a battle at the time to gain control of the telegraph industry in the Great Lakes Region. Its competitor was the Lake Erie Telegraph Company, with Herman B. Ely as contractor. In those early days, the lines were built largely on the financial aid of the residents living where the lines were to pass through. In this case, both the Lake Erie and the Erie & Michigan Telegraph Companies had convinced the people that the other's was a worthless scheme, and therefore each had succeeded in helping to slow the other's construction; but at the same time both were hurt from the battle. The early years of the telegraph business were certainly not pleasant ones, and a person looking back on it today wonders how any of the telegraph companies managed to survive at all.

As stated before, Wade contracted with Speed in the summer of 1847 to build a section of telegraph line for the Erie & Michigan. The route Wade was to follow was along the Michigan Central Railroad between Jackson and Detroit, Michigan. It wasn't long before Wade became known in the telegraph field as an honest, hard working, respectful person. It was felt any work he did would be well done and reliable. At that point, Wade, realizing his potential, sought more information on the subject, and within a year he became so well educated on the operation of the telegraph that he could make any instruments used in the business. 

After completing the line from Jackson to Detroit, he was given the opportunity to carry the line from Detroit eastward. A short distance out of Detroit he met Donald Mann, who was building a competing line for the other company. A conflict could have taken place where the two lines met, but both Wade and Mann were respected by their men, and neither of them wanted any trouble. On November 8, 1847, Wade wrote to Speed: "I find the agent, Mr. Mann, with the appearance of a gentleman. I trust he and I will get along side by side without any difficulty and leave our superiors to settle the difficulty in their own way."

Also along the route, between Monroe and Toledo (Ohio), was a community of mixed French and Indian blood. These people strongly objected to any lines being built along their property. They were superstitious, and feared the telegraph would burn their buildings, kill their cattle, and blight their crops. There was danger to anyone attempting to build any telegraph lines in the area. There was one resident whose word seemed to be taken by all the other residents as being all right. Wade, realizing this, set out to reach fair terms with the individual. Wade, with all his understanding, convinced the "Chief" to influence his neighbors that the line on the west side of the road was his (the Erie & Michigan) and the one on the east side was that of a competitor (Lake Erie). The next day the "Chief" told all his neighbors, "On west side all right, leef 'em be, on east side give 'em hell." And with that, Wade made his entrance into the telegraph business. 

In later years Wade became very much involved in line construction. There were many telegraph companies battling for supremacy, and luckily for Wade, he was in a very good position. He was one of the few men of that time who knew the best thing for the industry would be consolidation of the lines. In 1852, while president of the Cleveland & Cincinnati Telegraph Company, he told the stockholders of that company: "If all the prominent lines were consolidated in one company, it would add much to the reliability of the system, and consequently to the amount of business to be done." 

Cornell, a well known telegraph personality, was associated with Wade and Speed, and together they held a large portion of control of what was at that time the "West", mainly Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Michigan. In 1854, both Wade and Speed sold their business interests for $50,000 to Hiram Sibley, who was trying to gain control of the telegraph industry. This left Cornell very bitter. But one thing evolved from the action of the two men. Consolidation of many companies had begun; and in the early part of 1856 the Western Union Telegraph Company came into existence. That's when Wade was in a great position. He became chief negotiator for the newly formed company, and was successful in adding more and more companies into consolidation with Western Union. He and other associates labored to no end to gain contracts for lines along railroad right-of-ways. In that way Western Union, and Wade, grew. By 1857 Western Union had a large share of control of the entire telegraph system in this country, but still there was much conflict. 

In 1860, Western Union sent Wade to California to put together the unorganized telegraph industry in that state. Western Union had plans of building a transcontinental line; and upon the arrival of Wade in California, he found the four telegraph companies there willing to join Western Union in building the transcontinental line. Wade, being the wise person he was, would not deal with one company individually, but insisted they consolidate before they could take part in the building of the new line. With the aid of Jeptha Wade the newly consolidated interest became known as the California State Telegraph Company. 

As much as I would like to go into detail at this time concerning the transcontinental line, I must omit most of the information, due to limited space. I will have a feature article concerning the construction of that particular line in the near future. I do want to add, however, that specifications were drawn up as to what type of materials were to be used in the construction of that line regarding poles, wire and insulation. Mention is made that the line was to be insulated in the best possible manner -- on the eastern section the "Wade" insulator was specified. Although I have no clues regarding the actual invention of the Wade insulator, this information dates it prior to the spring of 1861.

Wade made such an impression of himself in California, that he was elected president of the Pacific Telegraph Company, which was responsible for building the western section of the transcontinental line. 

Although Western Union had become a giant in the industry, and is credited with greatly helping the telegraph through its painful years, it also started having growing pains by the mid 1860's. On July 26, 1865, Hiram Sibley resigned the presidency of the company, and Jeptha Wade was chosen to take Western Union through the rough period of time that lay ahead. 

That's the story of a man who started with very little, and, because of his own determination, became a well known, trusted, and wealthy businessman. 

A big thanks goes out to Bob Pierce for supplying reading material on early line construction in this country, from which I got much of the information for this article.. 

Next month, part two of Jeptha Wade. A look at his insulators, and hopefully a little more info on his life.

"Threadless Corner" Update

Added to the list of colors found in the CD 735 UPRR which was covered in April, Jack Hayes reported a green one, which I mentioned last month in "Update". N. R. Woodward recently reported also having a green one, and added that he also has a medium-dark aqua one (similar in color to a Hemingray 42). That makes a total of five colors: light aqua, medium dark aqua, "cobalt" blue, light blue, and green.