On 23 October 1861, the FIRST TRANSCONTINENTAL TELEGRAPH line was completed across the United States. Samuel Morse had completed his first telegraph line between Washington, DC and Baltimore, MD in 1844. Explosive growth followed, and by 1850 telegraph lines linked most of the eastern states. With the discovery of gold in California and its addition as a state, major efforts were made to link it with the rest of the nation. The Pony Express Service played an important role in that, beginning service in April 1860, with the riders taking about 10 days to carry mail between St. Joseph, Missouri and Sacramento, California. But that same year, the US Congress authorized the U.S. Post Office to begin building an overland telegraph line. The USPS awarded the contract to Hiram Sibley, the president of the Western Union Company, who then formed a consortium of various telegraph companies and began construction. Overcoming various difficulties, from weather to raids from various tribes along the way to transporting poles across great distances, the line was completed on 23 October 1861, well ahead of schedule. The following day, the FIRST TRANSCONTINENTAL TELEGRAPH began operating, with messages being sent from coast to coast almost instantly. The line immediately made the Pony Express obsolete and it officially ceased operations two days later, after 18 months of service. The FIRST TRANSCONTINENTAL TELEGRAPH line was operated until 1869, when it was replaced by a multi-line telegraph that had been constructed alongside the route of the Transcontinental Railroad.
Posted on: Wed, 23 Oct 2013 10:33:26 +0000
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