Horace Wheeler~Timbuctoo

This telegraph key and receiver was used between 1860 and 1870 by Mrs. Horace Niles Wheeler at Timbuctoo California.  Horace and Margaret (Havens) Wheeler spent nearly 20 years there mining for gold.  She used this device to communicate with her husband, Horace N. Wheeler (My great, great grandfather) at the office of a water company ten miles away.  Mrs. Wheeler became quite proficient at it's use.
This is the actual box on which the accompanying telegraph equipment was mounted.  It is basically untouched and the original pencil marks used to install the set can still be seen after a little over 150 years!