modern times has extended its influence so rapidly as that of the electric telegraph," declared Scientific American in 1852. "The spread of the telegraph is about as wonderful a thing as the noble invention itself."
The growth of the telegraph network was, in fact, nothing short of explosive; it grew so fast that it was almost impossible
to keep track of its size. "No schedule of telegraphic lines can now be relied upon for a month in succession," complained
one writer in 1848, "as hundreds of miles may be added in that space of time. It is anticipated that the whole of the populous
parts of the United States will, within two or three years, be covered with net-work like a spider's web."
Enthusiasm had swiftly displaced skepticism. The technology that in 1845 "had been a scarecrow and chimera, began to be treated
as a confidential servant," noted a report compiled by the Atlantic and Ohio Telegraph Company in 1849. "Lines of telegraph
are no longer experiments," declared the Weekly Missouri Statesman in 1850.
Expansion was fastest in the United States, where the only working line at the beginning of 1846 was Morse's experimental
line, which ran 40 miles between Washington and Baltimore. Two years later there were approximately 2,000 miles of wire, and
by 1850 there were over 12,000 miles operated by twenty different companies. The telegraph industry even merited twelve pages
to itself in the 1852 U.S. Census.
"The telegraph system [in the United States] is carried to a greater extent than in any other part of the world," wrote the
superintendent of the Census, "and numerous lines are now in full operation for a net-work over the length and breadth of
the land." Eleven separate lines radiated out from New York, where it was not uncommon for some bankers to send and receive
six or ten messages each day. Some companies were spending as much as $1,000 a year on telegraphy. By this stage there were
over 23,000 miles of line in the United States, with another 10,000 under construction; in the six years between 1846 and
1852 the network had grown 600-fold.
"Telegraphing, in this country, has reached that point, by its great stretch of wires and great facilities for transmission
of communications, as to almost rival the mail in the quantity of matter sent over it," wrote Laurence Turn-bull in the preface
to his 1852 book, The Electro-Magnetic Telegraph. Hundreds of messages per day were being sent along the main lines, and this, wrote Turnbull, showed "how important an agent
the telegraph has become in the transmission of business communications. It is every day coming more into use, and every day
adding to its power to be useful."
Arguably the single most graphic example of the telegraph's superiority over conventional means of delivering messages was
to come a few years later, in October 1861, with the completion of the transcontinental telegraph line across the United States
to California. Before the line was completed, the only link between East and West was provided by the Pony Express, a mail
delivery system involving horse and rider relays. Colorful characters like William "Buffalo Bill" Cody and "Pony Bob" Haslam
took about 10 days to carry messages over the 1,800 miles between St. Joseph, Missouri and Sacramento. But as soon as the
telegraph line along the route was in place, messages could be sent instantly, and the Pony Express was closed down.
In Britain, where the telegraph was doing well but had not been quite so rapidly embraced, there was some bemusement at the
enthusiasm with which it had been adopted on the other side of the Atlantic. "The American telegraph, invented by Professor
Morse, appears to be far more cosmopolitan in the purposes to which it is applied than our telegraph," remarked one British
writer, not without disapproval. "It is employed in transmitting messages to and from bankers, merchants, members of Congress,
officers of government,
The growth of the telegraph network was, in fact, nothing short of explosive; it grew so fast that it was almost impossible
to keep track of its size. "No schedule of telegraphic lines can now be relied upon for a month in succession," complained
one writer in 1848, "as hundreds of miles may be added in that space of time. It is anticipated that the whole of the populous
parts of the United States will, within two or three years, be covered with net-work like a spider's web."
Enthusiasm had swiftly displaced skepticism. The technology that in 1845 "had been a scarecrow and chimera, began to be treated
as a confidential servant," noted a report compiled by the Atlantic and Ohio Telegraph Company in 1849. "Lines of telegraph
are no longer experiments," declared the Weekly Missouri Statesman in 1850.
Expansion was fastest in the United States, where the only working line at the beginning of 1846 was Morse's experimental
line, which ran 40 miles between Washington and Baltimore. Two years later there were approximately 2,000 miles of wire, and
by 1850 there were over 12,000 miles operated by twenty different companies. The telegraph industry even merited twelve pages
to itself in the 1852 U.S. Census.
"The telegraph system [in the United States] is carried to a greater extent than in any other part of the world," wrote the
superintendent of the Census, "and numerous lines are now in full operation for a net-work over the length and breadth of
the land." Eleven separate lines radiated out from New York, where it was not uncommon for some bankers to send and receive
six or ten messages each day. Some companies were spending as much as $1,000 a year on telegraphy. By this stage there were
over 23,000 miles of line in the United States, with another 10,000 under construction; in the six years between 1846 and
1852 the network had grown 600-fold.
"Telegraphing, in this country, has reached that point, by its great stretch of wires and great facilities for transmission
of communications, as to almost rival the mail in the quantity of matter sent over it," wrote Laurence Turn-bull in the preface
to his 1852 book, The Electro-Magnetic Telegraph. Hundreds of messages per day were being sent along the main lines, and this, wrote Turnbull, showed "how important an agent
the telegraph has become in the transmission of business communications. It is every day coming more into use, and every day
adding to its power to be useful."
Arguably the single most graphic example of the telegraph's superiority over conventional means of delivering messages was
to come a few years later, in October 1861, with the completion of the transcontinental telegraph line across the United States
to California. Before the line was completed, the only link between East and West was provided by the Pony Express, a mail
delivery system involving horse and rider relays. Colorful characters like William "Buffalo Bill" Cody and "Pony Bob" Haslam
took about 10 days to carry messages over the 1,800 miles between St. Joseph, Missouri and Sacramento. But as soon as the
telegraph line along the route was in place, messages could be sent instantly, and the Pony Express was closed down.
In Britain, where the telegraph was doing well but had not been quite so rapidly embraced, there was some bemusement at the
enthusiasm with which it had been adopted on the other side of the Atlantic. "The American telegraph, invented by Professor
Morse, appears to be far more cosmopolitan in the purposes to which it is applied than our telegraph," remarked one British
writer, not without disapproval. "It is employed in transmitting messages to and from bankers, merchants, members of Congress,
officers of government,
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