Old Missoula

Old-Time Missoula Telegrapher Tells of Early Days of Western Union Here

Employes and Patrons of Company Observe Diamond Anniversary of System’s Founding Today

Today employes and patrons of the Western Union Telegraph company in Missoula and throughout the world will observe the seventy-fifth anniversary of the founding of the great telegraph system.

The diamond jubilee was celebrated by the Missoula staff of the Western Union under the leadership of J. H. Peterson, manager of the local office. Employes of the telegraph company for days have been telling of the significance of April 4, 1856, in their many contacts.

Early Managers Here.

One of the most interesting features of the anniversary here was reminiscences of John M. Carnahan, retired manger, who lives in Orchard Homes. Mr. Carnahan came to Missoula to take charge of the office in 1890, when the office was in an upstairs room, directly above the Missoula Mercantile clothing department. The office had been established a few months before his arrival with a single wire as its outlet to the rest of the world.

Prior to this all messages were handled at the Northern Pacific depot, the Western Union having arrived with the completion of the Northern Pacific in early 1882. Frank McHaffie, also of Missoula, was the first manager of the office.

When Mr. Carnahan came to Missoula he already was an old-timer in the West. It was he who, as an operator at Bismarck, Dakota territory gave the world the first news of the Custer massacre in 1876.

Bullets Through Floor.

In 1892 the office was moved across the street to what is now the Office Supply company and was located upstairs above the George Nink saloon. Mr. Carnahan related many interesting incidents surrounding the new location, mentioning displays of heavy artillery and the missiles coming up through the floor, especially on Saturday nights.

In 1896 the office was moved to Hammond block, next to the Northern Express office, and was honored by having two wires into the building. In 1902 it was moved to its present location, 105 East Front street, taking the place of a “high class” saloon, as Mr. Carnahan would have it stated.

Mr. Carnahan remained in the office until 1915 when he retired. During the time he was in charge the office grew from the single wire until it occupied a prominent position as a repeater station, until a few years ago when the repeater relay station was established in Helena. With the march of progress have come new methods and machinery, until the Missoula office has become one of the best equipped in the system for service and efficient handling of communications.

Days of Crinolines.

It was in the days when crinoline skirts taxed the width of doorways and men wore high collars and full skirts to their coats, that the state of New York granted permission for the adoption of the corporate name of Western Union. This was in 1856, 12 years after Samuel F. B. Morse on May 24, 1844 sent the first public telegraph message “What Hath God Wrought?”

In 1866 when the company moved headquarters from Rochester to New York City it had 76,686 miles of wire and 2,250 offices. The latest annual report of the company announces 217,458 miles of pole lines, 1,911,257 miles of wire, 3,842 miles of land cables, 30,757 nautical miles of ocean cables, 24,298 telegraph offices and 58,587 employes.

The above article appeared in The Daily Missoulian on April 4, 1931.

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 Celebrate Eighty-Second Anniversary of Telegrapher.

John M. Carnahan, the man who notified the world that Custer’s troops had been massacred in the Battle of the Little Big Horn, was 82 years old last Saturday. The veteran telegrapher was guest of honor at a party at the home of Mr. and Mrs. H. H. Barnett at their home at 1002 South Sixth street, and was presented with several gifts. Others present at the party besides the honor guest and his wife and the host and hostess were Mr. and Mrs. E. E. Wakeham and Granville Hickey.

Mr. Carnahan, former manager of the Western Union here, achieved fame when in 1876, from Bismarck, N. D., he sent by telegraph information of the Custer massacre in the valley of the Little Big Horn.

A New York paper in 1921 had this to say of Mr. Carnahan:

“In 1876, in Bismarck, Dakota, one of the toughest towns of the frontier, John Carnahan was serving, the westernmost telegraph operator at that time by more than 200 miles. Bismarck was the site of Fort Abraham Lincoln, the headquarters post of General George Custer. From there Carnahan, by exertion and endurance which still astounds the experienced telegraphers, “sent” for nearly 80 hours, with very little rest, the official and unofficial news of the massacre.

“But while the official dispatches were being sent, Eastern papers were clamoring frantically for news. They could not be accommodated for more than two days. Then, having recuperated but meagerly from his toil with the official dispatches, he prepared as much “story” as he had strength and sent it to the New York Herald, Chicago Inter Ocean and St. Paul Pioneer Press.

“Then special correspondents hurried to Bismarck to get the intimate details of the great story. By the time Carnahan had again rested a little there was a small army of these men waiting for him to transmit their news to the East, and another heavy grind followed.”

A single story for the New York Herald – 22,000 words, took Carnahan 12 hours to send and cost the paper $1,320 in tolls. The massacre occurred in Central Montana, 500 miles west of Bismarck, on June 25, 1876, but the story did not reach Bismarck until July 6. Carnahan went to his key at 8 o’clock that morning and worked until 5 o’clock the following morning – 21 hours of hand-sending, something few present-day operators could do.

“Utterly exhausted,” the story continued, “he lay down and slept for just three hours, then began another shift of 20 hours of continuous, paralyzing sending. The War Department at Washington must have the official dispatches quickly, and only after 53 hours of almost unbroken sending did he have time for any real rest, having sent 80,000 words in the meantime.”

Of Mr. Carnahan’s 53 years of active telegraph service, nearly all were spent in the inhospitable West of the stubborn Sioux and Cheyennes. He was given a steel engraving of General Custer several years ago, by Mrs. Custer, in recognition of his work.

 The above article appeared in The Daily Missoulian on October 7, 1931.

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 Custer Massacre Telegrapher Has Last Call Here

John M. Carnahan, Who Gave World News of Disaster Passes at Hospital

Sender of one of the world’s greatest news flashes – the Custer Massacre – John M. Carnahan, 89, passed away at a hospital here early Monday morning after a short illness. Although hearty and active despite his advanced age, a cold which developed in his throat, last week brought about his death. He was taken to the hospital last Friday.

Carnahan’s feat of sending several thousand dollars’ worth of telegraph messages on the tragedy which occurred on the Little Big Horn in June, 1876, never has been duplicated, and according to Harry Peterson, local Western Union manager, never will be approached.

The Bismarck garrison, which included many friends of Carnahan, was in the Custer expedition which rode out to the plains in June to punish the Sioux. On the night of July 5 the steamer “Far West” came down the river and tied up at Bismarck when most people were in bed.

The boat brought the wounded from Reno’s command and the official dispatches which told of the complete annihilation of Custer’s outfit.

Called from his bed, Carnahan went to the telegraph office to find a carpetbag full of official reports of the fight and its results. After sizing up the job, his first step was to flash the word East that the massacre had occurred.

At Key 21 Hours.

Then he settled down to transmit the official story to the Department of War at Washington. For some 21 hours he did not leave his key. Coffee and sandwiches were handed him now and then during the long shift and he kept a wet towel on his forehead.

When the reports were gone, he fell into bed to sleep for three hours. Then he got up and returned to the key.

Eastern newspapers for two days had clamored for detailed news of the massacre, but Carnahan could not leave his official work. Still weary to exhaustion, he returned to his office as there was no one else to send news of the disaster. He started sending as much story as he had strength to get and prepare. Carnahan had sent 80,000 words in those two shifts, and the receipts of his office in those two days were $3,000.

The special correspondents for large papers started arriving in Bismarck to get intimate details of the big story. James Kelly, a New York reporter, was the first on the scene, and the operator worked for 12 hours sending his 22,000-word story. Tolls on the special dispatch were $1,320. Kelly gave Carnahan $50 for his extra work.

A telegraph operator for 53 years before he retired, he had sent many thrilling stories to the newspapers. During the early days of his career he sent much news when he was on the border between the North and South during the Civil war.

His only known surviving relative is a niece, Mrs. Mose Garner of Los Angeles.

Mr. Carnahan’s Career.

Carnahan gave his birth date as October 1, 1949, at Blanchester, Ohio. His mother died two months after he was born, and soon after his father was left penniless by a collapse of a Cincinnati bank. At 12, he was a newsboy, and soon after he learned telegraphic work. He spent his time in the Cincinnati telegraph office during the Civil war. From there he was sent to Nashville, then back again. Later he went to Chicago, and in a few months to LaCross, Wis. In April, 1873, he was sent to Bismarck, N. D., as manager of the Northwestern Telegraph company.

For 17 years Carnahan was at the frontier station of Bismarck and when he left it was to come here, in 1890. He remained in the Western Union office in Missoula until 1916, when he retired. For many of these years he was manager.

Mr. Carnahan’s body is at the Stucky chapel. Funeral services are pending word from Mrs. Garner.

The above obituary appeared in The Daily Missoulian on October 23, 1938.

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John Carnahan was married to Flora Carnahan who died in Missoula on December 27, 1937. She managed the Western Union telegraph office for a time after John retired.