The Sesquicentennial of the Telegraph

Today marks the 150th anniversary of the invention of the telegraph. On Oct. 24, 1861, California chief justice Stephen J. Field sent a congratulatory wire from San Francisco to Abraham Lincoln in Washington, DC, on the successful completion of the cross-country project, which spelled the end of the Pony Express and could be considered the start of the wiring of America.

Building the project presented its own set of challenges for Western Union, including a shortage of wood through what is now Nevada, and the unintentional destruction of some poles across what is now Wyoming by itchy buffalo, which scratched themselves on the poles and knocked some of them down.

The telegraph revolutionized communications from the east to the west, and it even created its own  shorthand, which was used primarily by wire service reporters who were filing their stories with eastern news bureaus. Reporters used the numbers "73" for goodbye, and "30" to indicate the end of a story. (Hey, now I know where the ##30## comes from from j-school. Life is a an ongoing learning experience!) They used these and other abbreviations to keep the wires as free of clutter as possible.

The Union Army strung 15,000 miles of telegraph wire solely for military use during the Civil War. Keeping it repaired was likely a full-time job. (Photo from Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)

During the Civil War, the telegraph made it easier for the military and the media to communicate with the capitals and newspaper offices. The Union army strung about 15,000 miles of wire solely for military telegraphic use, and telegraphers brought their battery wagons close to the front lines to power their machines. Generals could send battle reports to Washington and Richmond, and reporters could file stories with their editors faster than ever before.

By 2006, Western Union had stopped sending telegrams altogether, relying instead on customers wiring money to one another as the bulk of its business.