Arizona's 1st Telegraph Pole Was Erected at Ft. Whipple

Officer's Quarters Ft. Whipple (1871)

As 1873 dawned, the Weekly Arizona Miner lamented that Arizona was “about the only great geographical division of the Union that is not now connected with the Capital of said Union…by telegraph.” Indeed, Lt.-Gen. George R. Crook, the man in charge of fighting in the Indian Conflicts, requested that the War Department build a telegraph line from California into the Arizona Territory in 1871. However, by 1873, Crook had already made peace with the Apaches and the “Indian Wars,” as they were called were winding down. Yet the wiring of Arizona to the rest of civilization would still be of great benefit in case of conflict from Mexico and Arizona “would no longer be isolated,” the Miner observed.

1898: The Railroad Roundhouse Disaster

MH Dodge and Captain Donaldson were visiting in front of the Catholic Church around 2PM Tuesday, August 16, 1898. Dodge was facing toward the rail yard when he witnessed an immense piece of iron rise 200-300 feet into the air. Immediately, the concussion of a huge explosion reached the men’s ears. Even more disturbing, this giant, rotating projectile was heading straight toward them! 

Jerome's Great Fire of 1898

One year before the fire;
almost all of this would be destroyed.

The Journal-Miner described it as “one of the greatest calamities in the loss of human lives and destruction of property that has ever occurred in the territory, and it may also be said in the West.”