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.