FIRST -- Telegraph in AZ, Pipe Spring Natl. Mon., Kaibab AZ
N 36° 51.791 W 112° 44.373
12S E 344938 N 4081107
The Desert Telegraph, which linked the Mormon pioneer outpost of Pipe Spring with Salt Lake City and then the world, commenced operations in 1871.
Waymark Code: WMMBG9
Location: Arizona, United States
Date Posted: 08/26/2014
Views: 1
This humble wire attached to insulators on wood posts comprised the Deseret Telegraph in the Windsor castle fort building of the Mormon pioneer outpost of Pipe Spring. This was the first telegraph in the state of Arizona.
A Utah Pioneers historic marker on the outside of Windsor Casgtle reads as follows:
"Erected September 2, 1933
No. 5
Pipe Springs National Monument
Established May 31, 1923 through efforts of Stephen T. Mather and friends
Pipe Springs
Occupied in 1863 by Dr James M. Whitmore, who, with Robert McIntyre, was killed 4 miles southeast of here January 8, 1866 by Navajo and Piute Indians.
Winsor Castle
Erected by direction of Brigham Young in 1869-70 by Anson P. Winsor for handling the church tithing herds and as a frontier refuge from Indians. It became the first telegraph office in Arizona when the Deseret Telegraph Line reached here in 1871."
More about the Deseret Telegraph is found on the National Park Service website: (
visit link)
"995 Miles of Wire
A long line of juniper poles—like the one you see here—set 70 yards apart ended Pipe Spring’s isolation. From 1871 on, telegraph wire connected the ranch first to Utah and then to the outside world.
By 1880 Mormon settlements from Idaho to Arizona could communicate easily with their neighbors and the Church leadership via the Deseret Telegraph system.
From 1871 to 1888 at least seven women operated the telegraph instruments at Pipe Spring.
Eliza and Sarah
Eliza Luella “Ella” Stewart sent the first telegraph message from Winsor Castle on December 15 of 1871.
. . .
Telegraph line going through Utah
The passing of the transcontinental telegraph through Salt Lake City in 1861 inspired Brigham Young to plan a new Mormon Church-owned communication network. After 1864, prices of Civil War-surplus telegraph materials dropped enough to make his plans affordable.
On October 18, 1866 a wagon train of sixty-five wagons arrived in Salt Lake City with 84 tons of wire, insulators, batteries and other equipment to be used in the construction of the lines. During the winter of 1865-66 men living in different parts of Utah cut the telegraph poles and hauled them to points along the line while others surveyed the proposed route."