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[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/telegraph_operator.jpg]]

The telegraph operator in TheWestern, generally [[StockCostumeTraits wears a white shirt, suspenders, and a green eyeshade]]. The telegraph office is in the railroad station; while owned by two separate companies, they have a symbiotic relationship (in RealLife, the telegraph lines and railroad ran side-by-side between towns all over the country).

May or may not employ one or more young boys to deliver incoming messages to in-town businesses and homes--if not, everyone else in town has to go to the office to pick up incoming telegrams. Since messages can arrive at any time, the Western Union man himself is seldom seen outside the office. Unlike his PonyExpress predecessor, tends to be a MeekTownsman. Sometimes gets to TakeALevelInBadass if the train station gets robbed.

In military-oriented works, this character occupies the role of the CommunicationsOfficer.

The Western Union Corporation provided most of the telegraph service in the United States from the 1850s to 2006. The long period of obsolescence--again, WU discontinued telegram service in ''2006'', a scant two years before the iPhone was launched--masks just how bleeding-edge the technology was when introduced. It was a major development for human communication, the first time ''ever'' information could travel faster than it could be physically carried on a written note (beyond the radius practical for line-of-sight means like semaphore or smoke signals). The Western Union Man is the [[JustForFun/OneOfUs forerunner of all geekdom]].

Note that this is a "Western Union" man, not a Western "[[WeirdTradeUnion union man]]".

SubTrope of RailroadEmployeeRoundhouse, the general trope for characters related to the railroad. Frequently overlaps with TelegraphGagStop, in which telegraph messages cause confusion by saying the word 'stop' instead of punctuation stop.
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!!Examples:

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[[folder:Comic Books]]
* ''ComicBook/{{Blueberry}}'': "Red Neck" Wooley is first and foremost a badass MountainMan, but he used to work as a telegraph operator in a small town --this becomes a ChekhovsSkill twice in the run of the comics.
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[[folder:Film -- Live Action]]
* ''Film/BreakheartPass'': After the telegraph lines are cut, the operator gets killed by a very bloody headshot so a message can reach Myrtle.
* ''Film/OnceUponATimeInTheWest'': In the famous opening sequence, the three thugs waiting at the railway station scare the meek telegraphist away simply by showing up in the dilapidated office. Eventually, much to his distress, they rip the cables off, annoyed by the sound the machine keeps making.
* ''Film/TheOutlawsIsComing'': Rance Rodan sends telegrams to his allied outlaws to come to Caspar to deal with Ken Cabot and the Stooges. Due to the violent nature of the outlaws, several Western Union men meet unfortunate fates as they attempt to deliver the telegrams.
* In ''Film/Posse1975'', Nightingale gives the telegrapher in Tesoto a bunch of telegrams to send announcing his capture of Jack Strawhorn. Later, when Strawhorn returns to Tesoto with Nightingale as his hostage, the telegrapher tries to send a message only to discover that Strawhorn has [[CutPhoneLines downed the telegraph wires]].
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[[folder:Literature]]
* ''Literature/LittleHouseOnThePrairie'': As civilization is slowly reaching the frontier town of De Smet, so does the telegraph. The clerk working in the office presents the apparatus to the townsfolk, who are fascinated. Then he plays a small prank on them, first asking the visitors to align in a circle, hold their hands... and pass a mild electric shock through them. Thankfully, they remain amused. By the end of "The Rose Years", Rose [[GenderIsNoObject takes a job for the telegraph office]].
* ''Literature/MichaelStrogoff'': While not the American Wild West, Russia's Tzarist Russia of the late XIXth century certainly counts for this trope's purposes. Nikolay Pigassof is a resident telegraph operator living in the stepes who owns a dog and helps Nadia and Michael on their mission.
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[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/BlakesSeven'': In "[[Recap/BlakesSevenS3E4DawnOfTheGods Dawn of the Gods]]", as part of the episode's AnachronismStew, Groff dresses like a stereotypical western telegraph officer.
* ''Series/CaseyJones'': In "Satan's Wail", Casey Jr.'s desire to be a railroad engineer gets challenged to the point he decides to become a telegraph operator instead.
* ''Series/{{Copper}}'': Adam, the telegraph operator, is the Morehouses' SecretKeeper, as well as sort of their accountant too.
* ''Series/{{Deadwood}}'': Blazanov, who like everyone else in the show doesn't follow the codified look or behaviour, still has the utmost dedication to his job and the constant vigil at the key.
* ''Series/DrQuinnMedicineWoman'': Horace is the resident telegraph operator, and hits all the markers to the point qualifying as a proto-nerd.
* ''Series/LoisAndClark'': In the ReincarnationRomance, Clark's western counterpart was a mild-mannered telegraph operator (with a Lone Ranger-style heroic identity).
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[[folder:Radio & Podcasts]]
* ''Radio/OurMissBrooks'': In "Telegram for Mrs. Davis", Mrs. Davis' Uncle Corky spends several hours at the railroad station with the telegraph operator, waiting for the immediate reply to his telegram.
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[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'': Gommu, the eccentric vagabond with whom Korra interacts in "Welcome to Republic City", used to be a world-trotting telegraph operator who served the United Forces.
* ''WesternAnimation/LittleDogsOnThePrairie'': The titular character of "Stanza By Me" is a mild-mannered snake who works as a telegraph operator.
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