William Glassford was an Army lieutenant, who was dispatched to the Arizona Territory to complete a network of heliographic stations. He perfected the use of the heliograph, nicknamed the Talking Glass, in 1889. It provided communications over a rugged and broken country using the heliograph and Morse code by using the sun's rays reflected from mirrors. Glassford's network of Talking Glass stations in the new territory spread the news of the day - from weather alerts to local hazards, and news across the homestead. The community was built with the intention to bring the cooperative spirit of early pioneers to a lifestyle created for today's Southwestern living.
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