Stebbins was building a telegraph line from St. Louis, Missouri, to Leavenworth, Kansas Territory, and wrote Gray about what would be required to get him to run the line through Quindaro, Kansas Territory. Stebbins included a draft of a document for raising subscriptions to underwrite the cost of building the telegraph line. Details included maintaining a telegraph office in Quindaro for a year and providing up to $1000 in telegraph services if $1000 was raised to pay to Stebbins.