OCTOBER 24 - Transcontinental Telegraph is Completed

On today's date, October 24 in 1861, the last link in the Transconti -nental telegraph system was completed, and the United States for the first time had instantaneous communication from the east coast to the west. From Washington to California news and communication was for the first time immediate. The world had become a lot smaller by just the clicking of a small device like the one pictured above, the telegraph sounder.

The Need for Coast to Coast Communication

"California and the Pacific Northwest. This ground was rich enough to grow fruits and vegetables in abundance, and lumber was in limitless forests.  And GOLD had been discovered there in 1848." As I wrote in my Blog about the Transcontinental Railroad (1869) and all that went along with it  ( https://historysstory.blogspot.com/2014/05/may-10-trans-continental-railroad-is.html), California had suddenly become very important. In fact it had already become a state in September of 1850. Well, just as the physical commute from the east coast to

California was nearly a killer proposition, getting news and communication was nearly as tough. It took weeks for mail to get through, and the Pony Express, a mail service delivering news, etc. using "young skinny wiry fellows, Orphans preferred, willing to risk death daily" (Poster right) and a series of horse-mounted riders between Missouri and California, took ten days. And it only operated from April 3, 1860, to October 1861

"What hath God Wrought.."

This biblical phrase (Numbers, 22:23) "What hath God wrought" was the first message sent on May 24, 1844  on a new device developed by Samuel F.B. Morse (below) and others by transmitting electrical signals over a wire laid between receiving stations, utilizing a code developed by Morse and thus known as Morse code. This assigned each number, letter or character a unique sequence of short and long signals called

"dots" and "dashes." This new invention revolutionized communication service between cities in the U.S.  Efficient telegraphic stations had been set up throughout the 1840's And 1850 there were lines linked most eastern states, with a similar, separate network of lines linking the booming economy of California. The need to integrate the western state with its federal government and the financial and political centers in the east became self evident.

Funding the Transcontinental Telegraph

The move to set up a transcontinental telegraph line started in 1860 when Congress approved a subsidy of $40,000  to any company that would commit to the construction of a telegraph line which would link the western network with the eastern. The main challenge was to cover the space currently missing any coverage between Salt Lake City and western Missouri. The Western Union Company  took up the challenge. In a way very similar to that which would rule the Transcontinental Railroad a few years later, the work would be done by two teams working to the center from opposite ends.

In charge of the eastern team was Edward Creighton. In charge of the western team was James N. Gamble (right) - yes that Gamble, of the Proctor & Gamble Co. whose beautiful home on Werk Road in Cincinnati was recently demolished for no good reason. The first pole went up on July 4, 1861 and by the project's completion in October of that same year they had planted 27,500 poles holding 2,000 miles (3,200 km) of single-strand iron wire over some very rough country.

Operational Difficulties.....

There were naturally some operational difficulties to be overcome in the construction. There was of course a Civil War raging not far from this area so acts of sabotage were a frequent concern. Also there was a bit of trouble with the indigenous tribes through whose land the poles and wires were being erected. In 1861 some Sioux warriors cut and

removed a section of wire for fashioning bracelets. Later, some of those wearing the bracelets fell ill.  A Sioux medicine man determined the illness was the great spirit of the "talking wire" avenging its desecration.  Thereafter, the Sioux stayed clear of the wire. And of course in the treeless Plains the logs had to be shipped by 200 oxen over the Sierra Nevada mountains, along with wire and glass insulators.  According to Gamble that portion of the job took over a month.

The Completion of the Transcontinental Telegraph

But in spite of the difficulties the line was completed in just four months; a surprise to President Lincoln (and most everyone else) who thought that it would take years. And the total cost came to a half million dollars. In the first  message sent over the new system, Steven J. Field addressed to President Lincoln a message which sought to reassure the President that Transcontinental Telegraph would bind the western states to the Union:

"They (the people of California) believe that it will be the means of strengthening the attachment which bind both the East & West to the Union & they desire in this the first message across the continent to express their loyalty to that Union & their determination to stand by the Government in this its day of trial They regard that Government with affection & will adhere to it under all fortunes.

 Stephen J Field,  Chief Justice of California"



Sources  =

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_transcontinental_telegraph

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/western-union-completes-the-first-transcontinental-telegraph-line

https://www.washingtonian.com/2016/10/25/1861-first-transcontinental-telegraph-was-sent-to-dc/

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/americas-original-wire-the-telegraph-at-150/

https://www.historynet.com/western-union-things-right-west-got-message.htm