On 24 October 1861, the first transcontinental telegraph line was complete by Western Union Company.

The Pacific Telegraph Act of 1860 was granted to Hiram Sibley, the president of Western Union, who consorted with different companies across the nation to begin the project. Sibley consolidated telegraph companies to form Pacific Telegraph Company in the east, which began constructing the line westward from Omaha, roughly following the Oregon Trail. California’s telegraph companies became Overland Telegraph Company, which began extending the line east from Carson City.

The line from Omaha reached Salt Lake City on October 18 and the line from Carson City was completed on October 24 marking the completion of the first transcontinental telegraph line. The same day, Chief Justice Steven J. Field of California telegrammed President Abraham Lincoln, prospecting the line to be “the means of strengthening the attachment which binds both the East and the West to the Union.” While proving essential to war effort, the line was only active for eight years, being replaced by a multi-line system that followed the transcontinental railroad in 1869.

Samuel Morse, a painter and Calvinist, began working on his version of the single-coil telegraph in the early 1830s. After two failed attempts, Morse returned to the U.S and, in December 1942, he strung up wires in the capitol building and sent messages between chambers. Morse was allotted 30,000 dollars for an experimental line between Washington D.C. and Baltimore.

Morse worked closely with Alfred Vail, an inventor and machinist who was central to the development and commercialization of the telegraph. Vail helped perfect some of Morse’s relay and signaling techniques and attributed to the creation of Morse Code.

In 1915 AT&T completed the first transcontinental telephone line. Theodore Vail, Alfred’s cousin, succeeded in convincing Woodrow Wilson that the telephone would spread quicker and operate more efficiently if brought under a monopoly. Theodore’s philosophy of closed systems, centralized power, and as much network control as possible to maintain a monopoly, has been called Vailism.
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From 1913 AT&T operated as a regulated monopoly. In 1974, the U.S. government led an antitrust suit against the monopoly. In 1982 the U.S. Justice Department succeeded in dismantling AT&T, leaving us with several smaller companies such as the AT&T that we know today and Southwestern Bell Corporation (later known as SBC Global).

–Jim Key

Photo Caption: “The site where the east and west sections of the transcontinental telegraph were joined. East side of Main Street, Salt Lake City, Utah with telegraph office, ca. 1862. Courtesy of the Church Archives, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Salt Lake City, Utah.” Image reprinted from James Gamble’s “Wiring a Continent.”

Meet the Author: Jim Key

I am currently completing my 3^rd year at Schoolcraft College and planning to transfer to Wayne State University next fall. Academically I will be pursuing a degree in journalism with a focus on public relations. I hope to fit in a few law classes as well. My passions include writing, playing music, and education; especially when it involves the arts. Professionally I’m not too sure of my goals, but I know that I will be doing what I enjoy and spreading knowledge wherever I go.