J. W. (Jeff W.) Hayes

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, in March 1853, Jeff W. Hayes—also published as J. W. Hayes and identified in bibliographic sources as John Uriel Hayes—became known in the Pacific Northwest after helping introduce the telegraph to Portland, Oregon, in 1882. Reference works on his career describe him as an entrepreneur as well as an author, and note that he later became blind before the end of the nineteenth century.

Hayes wrote across several modes rather than sticking to one lane. His books include Tales of the Sierras (1900), the future-looking Portland, Oregon, A.D. 1999 and Other Sketches (1913), Autographs and Memoirs of the Telegraph (1916), and Pleiades Club: Telegraphers' Paradise on the Planet Mars (1917). Modern science-fiction reference sources especially remember him for his utopian and speculative writing, which tied new technology to big hopes for Portland and the wider Pacific world.

He died in November 1917. Though not widely known today, Hayes stands out as an unusual figure: part businessman, part regional booster, and part early speculative writer who used fiction to dream about communication, cities, and the future.