Pack horse used by U.S. Army Signal Corps, carrying chest of instruments for local outfit for wireless telegraph. The United States Army Signal Corps develops, tests, provides, and manages communications and information systems support for the command and control of combined arms forces. It was established in 1860 and has had an important role from the American Civil War through the current day. Over its history, it had the initial responsibility for a number of functions and new technologies that are currently managed by other organizations, including military intelligence, weather forecasting, and aviation. The electric telegraph, in addition to visual signaling, became a Signal Corps responsibility in 1867. Within 12 years, the Corps had constructed, and was maintaining and operating, some 4,000 miles of telegraph lines along the country's western frontier. This photograph was taken in 1916 from the Bain News Service, one of the USA's earliest news picture libraries.