Timeline of North American telegraphy

January 22, 1848 map in New York Herald showing North American telegraph lines.

The timeline of North American telegraphy is a chronology of notable events in the history of electric telegraphy in the United States and Canada, including the rapid spread of telegraphic communications starting from 1844 and completion of the first transcontinental telegraph line in 1861.

Timeline

Early events

The Speedwell Ironworks, site of Morse's 1838 telegraph demonstration.
Samuel Morse in 1845.
  • 1836: David Alter of Pennsylvania develops the first American electrical telegraph, but he never develops the idea into a practical system.
  • Jan 1837: Samuel Chester Reid proposes that the U.S. Congress fund an optical telegraph (semaphore line) from New York to New Orleans.[1]
  • Sept 1837: Morse employs Alfred Vail to improve his telegraph from demonstration purposes for a share of future patent rights.[1]
  • Sept 1837: Samuel Morse files for a patent for his electrical telegraph in the United States.[1]
  • 6 Jan 1838: Samuel Morse sends his first public demonstration message over two miles of wire at Speedwell Ironworks in New Jersey. Morse also demonstrates his invention to the Franklin Institute and President Martin Van Buren in early 1838.[1]
  • April 1838: Congressman Francis Ormand Jonathan Smith proposes to give $30,000 for Morse to build a line to demonstrate the telegraph, but the bill does not pass.[1]
  • 1840: Morse obtains a patent.[1]
  • 3 March 1843: The United States Congress appropriates funds for Samuel Morse to lay a telegraph line from Washington, D.C. to Baltimore.[2]
  • 21 October 1843: Originally Morse decided to lay his wire underground, and asked Ezra Cornell to lay the line using a special cable-laying plow that Cornell had developed. Wire began to be laid in Baltimore on October 21, 1843, but the project was stopped after 15 km of wire was laid because the line was failing. Morse learned that Cooke and Wheatstone in England were now using poles for their lines, and he decided to follow that lead.[3]
  • 1 April 1844: Work begins in Washington on laying the line to Baltimore using poles. They used chestnut poles of seven meters in height, and 60 meters apart. Two wires were laid, Number 16 copper wire, covered by cotton thread with shellac, and a covering mixture of "beeswax, resin, linseed oil, and asphalt.".[3]
  • 1 May 1844: Test of line conveys news of the Whig Party's nomination of Henry Clay for U.S. President from the party's convention in Baltimore to the Capitol Building in Washington.
  • 24 May 1844: Morse's first message over the Baltimore-Washington telegraph line, "What hath God wrought!" is transmitted, chosen from the Bible for Morse by Annie G. Ellsworth, because she knew Morse was religious.[3]

Spread of telegraphic lines

  • 1845
The first telegraph office
November 14, 1845 report in New York Herald on telegraph lines coming into operation.
  • 1 April 1845: First public telegraph office opens in Washington, D.C.[3]
  • 15 May 1845: Morse founds the Magnetic Telegraph Company with Amos Kendall, Francis O.J. Smith, Ezra Cornell, and Orrin S. Wood, with a goal to extend the Washington-Baltimore line to New York.[3]
  • 16-18 September 1845: Orrin S. Wood builds a short telegraph line of about one mile from Utica, New York to the city fairgrounds (the site of that year's New York State Fair), for public demonstration.[4][5]
  • October 1845: Samuel Colt partners with William Robinson (a New York book dealer) to form the New York and Offing Electric Telegraph Association. A line is laid from an observation tower built on Coney Island to Manhattan to get news from shipping traffic to the New York Mercantile Exchange more quickly. The first line laid across the East River from Brooklyn by Colt on October 23 or 24 quickly fails. The northern terminus of the line becomes the Fulton Ferry in Brooklyn, with news then ferried across the river. A second line across the East River at Hell Gate was operational by March 1846.[6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]
  • 7 November 1845: Wood builds a line from Buffalo, New York to Lockport, New York that goes into operation on November 7 - the first line opened for regular commercial business.[15][16][17][18][4][19]
  • November 1845: November 14, 1845 New York Herald notes another short planned line, the "Boston Marine Line", which was similar to the New York Offing Line, a line from Nastasket to inner Boston to transmit news from incoming ships.[20]
  • 24 November 1845: Line from Lancaster, Pennsylvania to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (about 35 miles) is completed.[21][22]
  • November 1845: 14 mile line from Philadelphia to Norristown, Pennsylvania opens due to great public interest in the work.[6]
  • 1846
  • 1847
  • 1848
  • 1849
  • 1850
  • 1850: About 12,000 miles of line from 20 companies now exist in the United States.[2]
  • 29 March 1850: Line reaches Danville, Virginia.[43]

Spread to continental and intercontinental service

  • 1858
  • 1859
  • 1860
Depiction of the construction of the first Transcontinental Telegraph, with a Pony Express rider passing below.
  • 1861
  • 10 October 1863: Line opens to Denver, Colorado.[69]
  • 1865: International Telecommunication Union is formed
  • 18 July 1866: A new transatlantic telegraph cable between North America and Europe is successfully completed.
  • 1870: Telegraph lines from Britain are connected to India.
  • 1871: Practical duplex telegraphy system, allowing two messages to be sent over wire at the same time, one in each
  • 1872: Dallas, Texas reached by telegraph line.[70]
  • October 1872: Australia is linked to the world system by a submarine telegraph line between Darwin and the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia).
  • 1874: Thomas Edison sells his invention of quadruplex telegraph to Western Union for $10,000. It allows a total of four separate signals to be transmitted and received on a single wire at the same time (two signals in each direction.)
  • October 1902: The first trans-Pacific line links Brisbane, Australia to Vancouver, Canada (via Fiji and Norfolk Island).[71]

End of telegraph era

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Hochfelder, David. The Telegraph in America, 1832–1920, p. 182 (2012)
  2. 1 2 Samuel F. B. Morse Papers at the Library of Congress, 1793 to 1919 - 1840-1872, Retrieved 7 April 2017
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Huurdeman, Anton A. The Worldwide History of Telecommunications, p. 61 (2003)
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Reid, James D. The Telegraph in America: Its Founders, Promoters, and Noted Men, p. 302 (1879)
  5. ↑ Gifford, S.B. (16 April 1901). Early Days of the Telegraph, Telegraph Age, pp. 165, 357
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Harlow, Alvin F. Old Wires and New Waves, p. 111 (Philadelphia to Norristown), 114 (Boston to Lowell) (1936), 172 (Coney Island line)
  7. ↑ Chapin, Charles L. Personal Recollections of the Early Days of the Telegraph, The Manufacturer and Builder (September 1890)
  8. ↑ Lifshitz, Kenneth B. Makers of the Telegraph: Samuel Morse, Ezra Cornell and Joseph Henry]], pp. 245-46 (2017)
  9. ↑ (6 November 1845). L.I. Telegraph, New York Herald, p. 2, col. 6.
  10. ↑ (27 October 1845). Electric Telegraph, American Republican
  11. ↑ (30 May 1936). Telegraph, Brooklyn Daily Eagle, p. A86 (p 115 scan)
  12. ↑ (24 October 1845). The Offing Telegraph, New York Herald (reports that Colt succeeded in laying pipe across the river on the prior day, October 23)
  13. ↑ Brooklyn Affairs, New York Daily Tribune, p. 2, col. 6 ("Mr. Colt has abandoned his project of carrying the Offing Telegraph Wire across the bottom of the river, and it will not be carried over on poles from Fulton Ferry.")
  14. ↑ (9 April 1846). , New York Herald, p. 4, col. 6 bottom third (advertising new crossing of East River at Hell Gate)
  15. ↑ Scientific American (November 27, 1845), p. 2, col. 5 near bottom ("Since the Telegraph from Buffalo to Lockport has been in operation the Lockport papers published western news twelve hours in advance of the mail.")
  16. ↑ Scientific American (December 18, 1845), p. 3 (anecdotes about early use of Buffalo-Lockport line)
  17. ↑ (10 November 1845). The Telegraph between ..., New York Daily Tribune (reporting that line between Lockport and Buffalo "was put in operation yesterday afternoon ..." as reported in the Buffalo Commercial Advertiser on unlisted date)
  18. ↑ (18 November 1845). Magnetic Telegraph - Buffalo and Lockport, p. 1, col. 6 (reprint from November 15 Buffalo Advertiser about breaks in wire and poles being sawed down)
  19. ↑ Buffalo Telegraphic History, Commercial Telegraphers' Journal, p. 189 (June 1910)
  20. ↑ (4 December 1845). , New-York Daily Tribune, col. 3, near bottom ("The Magnetic Telegraph of Messrs. Hudson & Smith, from Nantasket Head to the Merchants' Exchange, is now nearly completed, and will be put in immediate operation.")
  21. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Calvert, J.B., The Electromagnetic Telegraph, last revised 26 December 2008)
  22. ↑ Wilson, William Bender. From the Hudson to the Ohio, p. 32 (1902)
  23. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Schwarzlose, Richard A. Early Telegraphic News Dispatches (1973), p. 6.
  24. ↑ History of Philadelphia, 1609-1884, Volume 3, p. 2131 (1884)
  25. ↑ Scientific American (12 February 1846), p. 2 (reporting on Albany-Utica and Philadelphia-Newark, and delay to New York due to Hudson River)
  26. ↑ Scientific American (February 5, 1846), p. 2 col. 5 ("We are informed that the Telegraph between Albany and Utica is finished and has commenced operations. Several other lines are progressing.")
  27. ↑ 14 February 1846). Magnetic Telegraph - Annihilation of Time and Space, New York Herald (note that February 19 letter to editor clarifies there is no Boston to Nantucket line - it is to Nastasket)
  28. 1 2 3 Transactions of the Oneida Historical Society at Utica, Volumes 1-5, p. 157 (1881)
  29. ↑ (23 March 1846) "The Mystic Meshes" of the Union-Magnetic Telegraph, New York Herald
  30. ↑ Schartf, J. Thomas. History of Delaware : 1609-1888, Vol. II, p. 658 (1888)
  31. ↑ Lee, Alfred McClung. The Daily Newspaper In America, p. 495 (1937)
  32. 1 2 History of the Telegraph, History Wired (Smithsonian Institution), Retrieved 16 February 2015
  33. ↑ "The" Magnetic Telegraph Company - Anniversary of its Lone, American Telegraph Magazine (April–May–June 1853)
  34. ↑ (20 July 1846). Telegraph from Ithaca to Auburn, New York Herald
  35. 1 2 Babe, Robert E. Telecommunications in Canada: Technology, Industry, and Government, p. 38 (1990)
  36. ↑ Branch, E. Douglas. The Coming of the Telegraph to Western Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania History vol. 5, no. 1, January 1938
  37. 1 2 Nova Scotia's Telegraphs, Landlines And Cables, Acadian (1938)
  38. 1 2 3 4 The Telegraph in American and Morse Memorial
  39. ↑ (27 July 1847). Lightning Despatch, Richmond Enquirer
  40. ↑ (31 July 1847). Magnetic Telegraph (ad), Weekly National Intelligencer, col. 6.
  41. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Scharf, J. Thomas. History of Saint Louis City and County, Vol. 2, pp. 1424 et seq. (1883)
  42. ↑ TELEGRAPHY AND TELEPHONES - The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, Retrieved 5 April 2017
  43. 1 2 3 4 Scharf, J. Thomas History of Baltimore City and County, p. 507 (1881)
  44. ↑ Early Dayton, p. 193 (1896)
  45. ↑ (30 November 1847). Telegraphic, Tri-Weekly Journal (Evansville, Indiana)
  46. ↑ Harrison, Jon (29 November 2016). November 29, 1847 : Michigan's First Telegraph Line Completed, MSU Libraries
  47. 1 2 3 4 Cotterill, R.S. The Telegraph in the South, 1845-1850, The South Atlantic Quarterly, Volume 16 (1917)
  48. ↑ Nelson's Biographical Dictionary, p. 484 (1896)
  49. ↑ Hoyt, Homer. One Hundred Years of Land Values in Chicago, 53 (1933)
  50. ↑ (22 January 1848). First Despatches by Magnetic Telegraph From and to Fayetteville, The North-Carolinian
  51. ↑ Goodspeed, Weston A. The History of Cook County, Illinois, p. 134 (2017)
  52. ↑ Thompson, Zadock. History of Vermont, p. 63 (1853)
  53. ↑ Detroit in History and Commerce, p. 153 (1891)
  54. ↑ History of the Board of Trade of the city of Chicago, Volume 1, Part 1, p. 135 (1917)
  55. ↑ Williamson, Joseph. History of the City of Belfast in the State of Maine, p. 595 (1877)
  56. ↑ (5 January 1849). The Electric Telegraph, Weekly Chronicle (Saint John)
  57. ↑ Blondheim. News Over the Wires, p. 81 (1994)
  58. ↑ Georgia History Timeline / Chronology 1849, Retrieved 24 April 2017
  59. 1 2 Telegraph service, Texas State Historical Association Handbook, Retrieved 17 April 2017
  60. 1 2 (10 November 1861). History of the Pacific Telegraph, Marysville Daily Appeal
  61. 1 2 Gale, George. Upper Mississippi Or Historical Sketches, p. 445 (1867)
  62. ↑ Whitney, Carrie Westlake. Kansas City, Missouri: Its History and Its People 1808-1908, Volume 1, p. 145 (1908)
  63. ↑ History of Atchison County, Kansas, p. 183 (1916)
  64. ↑ Brownville history, Retrieved 24 April 2017
  65. 1 2 Blegen, Anne H. The Early History of the Telegraph in Minnesota, Minnesota History 8 (June 1927)
  66. ↑ Morton, J. Sterling et al. History of Nebraska, p. 84 (Rev. ed. 1918)
  67. ↑ Fort Laramie, Retrieved 24 April 2017
  68. ↑ Mullens, Patrick A. Creighton: Biographical Sketches ..., p. 18 (1901)
  69. ↑ Telecommunications History Group, Retrieved 6 April 2017
  70. ↑ Communications in Dallas, Texas Historical Markers
  71. ↑ Australia and the global telegraph network 1854-1902 Archived 2011-07-06 at the Wayback Machine., Museum Victoria, Accessed 16 February 2015
  72. ↑ Freierman, Shelley. Telegram Falls Silent Stop Era Ends Stop, The New York Times
  73. ↑ "No farewell to telegram in Goa as BSNL takes day off". The Times of India. 15 July 2013. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
  74. ↑ "World's last telegram to be sent next month". USA Today. 15 June 2013. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
  75. ↑ Jeelani, Mehboob (18 June 2013). Twilight of India's Telegram Operators, The New York Times
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