The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 64, July 1960 - April, 1961 Page: 211
574 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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The Arrival of the Telegraph in Texas
later has become a larger and in some respects a more convenient
means of communication. Oddly enough, the telephone patents
and business were offered to Western Union's president William
Orton for the sum of $1oo,ooo. Because of personal ill feeling
between Orton and Alexander Bell's manager (and father-in-law)
Gardiner Greene Hubbard, however, the offer was refused.
The tables were turned in 1909 when Theodore N. Vail, pres-
ident of the Bell Telephone interests purchased the block of
Western Union stock formerly owned by Jay Gould the railroad
magnate who had purchased the stock from William Vanderbilt
in a battle for telegraph control. Vail promptly had himself elected
president of Western Union and was ready to merge the two
companies when the Department of Justice intervened, in 1910
under the Sherman anti-trust law, and advised Vail to relieve
himself of his stock and plans.
There is a small settlement on the South Llano River fifteen
miles south of Junction known as Telegraph, Texas. Former Gov-
ernor Coke Stevenson and a Mr. Davis, who operates the store
and some cottages there, are the principal and almost the only
residents of the community. There are two draws or valleys lead-
ing away from the river in which abound cedar and other timber
suitable for small telegraph poles. Local legend says that when
the government set out to connect the forts of West Texas with
telegraph lines in 1875, a large portion of the poles were cut and
trimmed at this point. It became a prominent and important
camp along the line and thereby became known as Telegraph.211
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 64, July 1960 - April, 1961, periodical, 1961; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101190/m1/241/?rotate=270: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.