Hugh

Thanks, it has been several years since I have looked at the Alexander papers. I was aware that there were Telegraph Lines running to Clarksville and Fort Smith and the numerious reference in records of "Wire Roads". I guess what I am trying to do is figure out just who was running all these telegraph lines.

Those telegraph lines were quite expensive to maintain. I have been doing some study on the telegraphs of the period and trying to apply that to the Arkansas situation. One interesting point that seems to slip by most researchers is that it requires 6 volts of DC Electricity to operate 1 1/4 miles of line because of the ohms resistance of the wire. the chemical batteries of the day.