Early Western Canadian Telegraph Lines and Insulators
by Jack H. Hayes

Reprinted from "INSULATORS - Crown Jewels of the Wire", November 1977, page 3

The line discussed was built and became known as the Yukon Telegraph operated by the Dominion Government. A great book on the operation of this line is "Forty Years on the Yukon Telegraph" by Guy Lawrence, an operator on the line. In his book he describes a farm he won in a poker game at Blackwater, B.C., which is northwest of Quesnelle. It was about 1908, and on riding his horse around his farm he was surprised to find the remains of the old Collins line running through the trees, with its huge sideblocks and insulators still fastened to the tree poles. He said that he didn't bother to collect any, and only in later years did he discover that they were of value to antique collectors. Cohn McIntosh reported in his book on Canadian insulators that there is a CD 735 Tillotson embossed insulator in the B.C. Parliament buildings reputed to be from the Collins line. Also, several Chester New Yorks have been found on this line. 

My family and I drove our van through the route in 1973 with detailed maps of the Telegraph Trail. We searched the area around Blackwater and Fort Stager. It was tough going, with trees blown down and plenty of mud holes. We asked the local Indians and road crews about the insulators, and they claimed to have seen them and had used them for target practice years ago. A telegraph key had been dug from a garden at Fort Stager a year earlier, but the lady had sold it. We found a few large porcelain insulators almost identical to the porcelain Gisborne Pattern beehives. These were from the Yukon line and were embedded in the trees almost overgrown. It was a great trip, but yielded few insulators and no threadless. 

On researching the Collins line I have found a number of interesting stories. George Kennan's book, "Tent Life In Siberia", provides a map of the route and the effort to build the Siberian section of the line. The book is beautifully written, and on page 374 he explains the hardships, "...left as we were at the beginning of a second winter without men, tools or materials of any kind, except 50,000 insulators and brackets." This was at Geezhega, September 1866, at the top of Shelekhov Bay by the Kamchatka Peninsula. 

In an account in the Ontario Historical Society magazine of a proposed Pacific Telegraph, great plans were described for a line across Canada in the 1860's. This line was never built, but a good start was made. By 1865 the survey had been completed, and supplies were on the ground in Victoria and Red River (Winnipeg). However, the purpose of the line, which was financed by the Hudson's Bay Company, was negated by the Collins line. Ironically, the Collins scheme failed before completion, due to the success of the Atlantic cable, but not before the supplies shipped to Victoria for the Hudson's Bay line were sold to the Collins project for use in British Columbia. Could these have been Chesters? Information on the threadless insulators tells us that Chester started in business in 1855; but Tillotson's first date is 1865. The Collins line was well under way by April 1865 in B.C. The insulators for the Hudson's Bay line were purchased in 1863.

Cariboo Road B.C. 1867 (Courtesy of Public Archives of Canada)

In the early (1867) pictures of the Cariboo wagon road, along which the Collins line was built, it is difficult to determine what the insulators are; but they appear to be small on large side blocks. Also, some appear to be light or aqua, while others are dark. 

As to the insulators delivered to Red River, having been ordered in 1863 and on the ground in 1865, these were stored at Fort Garry and acquired by the Canadian Government in 1871 for a line linking Fort Garry with the American Telegraph System, and in 1874 a line to Livingston, twelve miles west of Fort Pelly. This line was completed in 1867 through dense woods and muskeg by the Winnipeg firm of Sifton, Glass and Fleming. Speculation as to where these insulators were made must consider the dates of glass companies at the date of ordering, 1863. The Hamilton Glass Company began operations in 1865. The Canada Glass Works at Hudson, Quebec, started in 1863 or 4 following an earlier window glass plant at nearby Como. Information on Foster Brothers of St. Johns is not clear from 1860 to 1875. Research by J. B. Thompson indicates that all of the Fosters had left St. Johns in 1860 to return to Stoddard, New Hampshire, to build the New Granite Glass Works; and for the 15 years, 1860-1875, there is no evidence of glass being made in St. Johns CE. Gerald Stevens in his book on Early American Glass quotes a letter telling about glass manufacture at St. Johns in 1879 for the Yuile Bros., who purchased the factory from Chas. Foster, who had returned to St. Johns in 1875 after the New Granite Glass Works burned in 1871. 

Considering the circumstances, I would speculate that the insulators purchased by the Hudson's Bay Company were either American (Chester) or British; and only a lot of hard digging west of Winnipeg will let us know.

What about the Baby Battlefords and their origin? The contract for the second section of the Canadian Government line in 1874 was awarded to Richard Fuller of Hamilton, Ontario. This section was completed in November 1876; and I believe he ordered the Battleford Babies from Hamilton Glass, which started in 1865 and closed in 1895. Recently an aqua Baby Battleford was found at the site of the Hamilton Glass Works during some digging by a contractor. It is no longer surprising to find threadless along lines built after 1870 and even after 1880. 

The Fuller contract was from Livingston to a point west of Battleford, where the town of Leduc is built. F. D. Gisborne, who became superintendent of telegraph for the Dominion Government, reported in 1883 on the lines. He criticized the western part "being in bad condition, the poles (poplar) being rotten; the wire No. 9, good, but the brackets old and the insulators small and of poorest description". The eastern part, i.e. west of Winnipeg to Fort Qu'Appelle in the Touchwood area, he reported as being constructed in a substantial manner. He contracted for a new line of poles, using the old wire, etc. He didn't say what the "etc." was; but from the way he wrote, it would appear that the eastern section had better insulators. Those from 1863? One of his recommendations was that future lines erected by the Government in the North West be first class, and that good screw oak or iron brackets be used. There is a photograph of the North West Mounted Police riding through the Touchwood hills beside a telegraph line The insulators, although hard to see, look to be clear or light in color and larger than 742.5's. 

There has to be some more surprises out there in western Canada. To all Crown Jewels readers I can only say, Let's get out and find them. Keep on reporting your finds and information, and we will all increase our opportunities of obtaining the insulators we want.

P.S.

The Pacific Telegraph was promoted by Edward William Watkin, who was sent to Canada by investors in the Grand Trunk, to reorganize the company and make it profitable. Watkin entered into agreement with O. S. Wood, superintendent of the Montreal Telegraph Company and the Hudson's Bay Company, to build a transcontinental telegraph across Canada in advance of a railway which he strongly advocated. Under the agreement, the MT Co. was to build from existing Canadian lines to the HB Co. post at Sault St. Clair. The HB Co. was to build under sub-contract to Wood, lines from Fort Garry to the U.S. border at Pembina, to the Pacific from Fort Garry, and to Fort William. Also, at a later date, a line was to be built from Sault St. Clair to Fort William around Lake Superior. 

In August, 1863, O. S. Wood ordered a limited supply of insulators and instruments in New York and set out for Red River to get started. In the meantime, the HB Co. board of governors in England withdrew support because the Canadian government procrastinated in providing subsidies. However, Watkin, as head of Grand Trunk, exerted pressure and offered free transport for supplies on GT lines; and in May, 1864, the HB Co. decided to go ahead. Dr. John Rae took Wood's place as superintendent of construction, and HB Co. agents set about ordering hundreds of tons of wire and supplies, which were shipped to Red River and Victoria, B.C.

Maybe the Hudson's Bay Company ordered embossed insulators that are yet to be turned up. Whatever they are, they should be found east, west and south of Winnipeg, as well as along the route of the Collins line in B.C.