The first thing I wish to do is to thank David and Marilyn Delling for giving me permission to use the information in their book, Before Threads, a story of the Wade insulator; and I also want to thank Frank Jones for permission to use information about the Wade Insulator from his reprint of History, Theory and Practice of the Electric Telegraph, year 1860, reprinted September 1972. Both books not only have Information about insulators, but other information useful to a collector.

The Wade insulator is a noteworthy fragment of early Americana. It is a glass insert insulator with a wooden overcoat used on early telegraph lines sometimes paralleled close to the Pony Express route across some of the western states.

Before we continue about more information on the Wade insulator let's see who Mr. Wade was and some of his background. Jeptha H. Wade, who invented the Wade insulator probably in the late 1850's, was born in Seneca County, New York., in 1811. His early career was varied and included a period when he was a wandering portrait painter. By 1847 he was active in telegraph construction and operations, and in 1855 he was a party to the organization of the Western Union Telegraph Company. He later served as president of this company for one year in 1866. He also served as president of the Pacific Telegraph Company which built the eastern section of the first transcontinental telegraph in 1861. It's not surprising that Wade insulators were used on this line Omaha to Salt Lake.

Below are two pictures of the Wade insulator.

No. 1 is the picture of the Wade insulator I got from Forest Jones of Carlisle, Ohio. I understand it was on display at the Nat. Insulator Show at Kansas City last year (1972). The glass insert on the left was dug up at the old Pony Express station, Sacramento, Calif. The insert on the right was dug up in Indiana.

Picture No. 2, you will note, shows two different wooden covers used over the glass insert. The wooden cover to the right is a hand-made copy exact measurement of the one which was on display at the Nevada State Museum in Carson City. (Wood Covered Insulator-Telegraph, 1863, found near east summit of Kingsbury Grade, Nevada, Photo #2710, Negative 972.) These two wooden covers are shown in more detail on the following pages.

Note the iron band around the Insulator close to the top.

A picture of this insulator found In Nevada is in Tibbits book, Volume 2, A Guide for Insulator Collectors, page 21.

Just a little background of what it took to construct a telegraph line in the early days (0maha to Salt Lake section). Four hundred men fitted out for a hard campaign, with a rifle and Navy revolver for each man, and with the necessary provisions, including one hundred head of cattle for beef. For the transportation of the material and the supplies for this army of workmen, five hundred oxen and mules and over one hundred wagons were purchased for this project.

The poles were of large size, about 80 to the mile, half of red cedar, the remainder mostly pine. The wire used in this line was No. 9 iron, zinc-coated, weighing three hundred and fifty pounds to the mile. The insulators were of glass, protected by a wooden shield, of the pattern known as the Wade insulator.

Below is a reprint showing the Wade Insulator and how it was mounted on poles and other information about the Wade.

(Text from article above:)

MODERN PRACTICE OF THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.

bracket and pole through the medium of a continuous stream of water.

93. The WADE INSULATOR--This is largely used in the Western States. Its construction is shown in Fig. 33. A glass insulator, somewhat similar in shape to that last described, is covered with a wooden shield, to prevent fracture from stones and other causes, the wood being thoroughly saturated with hot coal tar, to preserve it from decay. The line wire is tied to the outside of the shield, in the same manner as when the glass insulator is used.

This insulator is usually mounted upon an oak bracket, as in Fig. 33, secured by spikes to the side of the pole or other support. When it is intended to be mounted upon a horizontal cross-arm it is placed upon a straight wooden pin, instead of a bracket. The pin or bracket is usually saturated with hot coal tar, in the same manner as the insulator shield.