Mr. Thaddeus Poucher of this city claims to have set the first telegraph pole ever raised in the world, and this is how it happened, as he relates it.
About 35 years ago, when Prof. Morse was making his experiments in telegraphy, Mr. Poucher, who was a young man with a speculative turn, called on the professor to consult with him about some notions of his own about telegraphic inventions.
Morse then lived on his farm, about three-quarters of a mile from the village of Poughkeepsie and was about to put up a single experimental wire between his house and barn, which were about 400 feet apart. Between these buildings it was necessary to erect one pole, and this put up my Mr. Poucher and prof. Morse's hired man. this was the first telegraph pole raised in this country.
Mr. Poucher distinctly remembers the particulars. From a pile of ordinary hop poles one was taken, one end sharpened and it was then set in a hole made in the ground with a crow bar. There was one cup nailed on it. About two years later the line between Washington and Philadelphia was constructed. Later Mr. Poucher built the first line between Syracuse and Oswego, copper wire being used. He also built the line along the railroad and the first lines between Watertown, Cape Vincent and Sackets Harbor and other places in that vicinity.