Joseph T. Dyer

Joseph Dyer was part of the Western Union Telegraph Expedition (1865-1867) crew working with Major Robert Kennicott. The party was working on a telegraph line to connect North America and Asia. Joseph Dyer's three dairies, dated 22 August 1865 to 8 October 1867, were written aboard ship from Sitka to Fort St. Michael and elsewhere in Alaska. Dyer wrote about the expedition and its activities and included an account of Robert Kennicott’s suicide.¹⁾ Dyer travelled with Charles Pease, Fred Smith, George Adams, and Kennicott’s body down the Yukon River and then travelled alone to Ulykuk and Unalaclete to notify the rest of the party of Kennicott’s death. After that, Frank Ketchum was given command of the district from Fort Nulato. He was unable to work as he had neither men nor supplies for line building. His crew included Joseph Dyer and Mike Lebarge of the old party and two new ones: Fred Whymper, an artist, and W.H. Dall, a scientist from the Smithsonian.²⁾