The heliograph was heavily made use of by Nelson A. Miles in Arizona as well as New Mexico after he took control of command of the fight against Geronimo and also various other Apache bands in the Apache Battles. Miles had previously set up the initial heliograph line in the US between Fort Keogh as well as Fort Custer in Montana. He used the heliograph to fill out huge, very finely populated areas that were not covered by the electric telegraph.