What happened to America’s Telegraph lines? How the Telegraph Transformed America - IT'S HISTORY
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The American Telegraph was one of the first advancements towards the near-instant communication of today. While the telegraph found its origin in Britain, it hit its stride in the United States with Samuel Morse’s design, gaining international prestige and even a cable running across the Atlantic Ocean. Today, we’re going to delve into the history of it and see just what made the telegraph, and Morse Code, click.
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IT’S HISTORY - Weekly tales of American Urban Decay as presented by your host Ryan Socash.
Chapters:
0:00 - Introduction
2:14 - American Communication
3:58 - A Brief History of Telegraphy
4:58 - The First Telegraph, Morse, and Morse Code
9:14 - Implementation of the Electronic Telegraph
14:29 - The American Telegraph Industry
18:06 - The Transatlantic Telegraph Cable
22:18 - Western Union’s Monopoly
25:49 - Telegraphs in the 1900s
28:09 - Conclusion
» CONTACT
KultAmerica@mediakraft.tv
/ kultamerica
» CREDIT
Scriptwriter - Gregory Back
Editor - Rishi Mittal
Host - Ryan Socash
» SOURCES
/ itshistory
» NOTICE
Some images may be used for illustrative purposes only - always reflecting the accurate time frame and content. Events of factual error / mispronounced word/spelling mistakes - retractions will be published in this section.
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"Electric", not "electronic". Electronic means, that the device uses vacuum tubes, transistors, or integrated circuits, & those weren't around, when the electric telegraph was invented.
The sleaziest of the sleazy VPNs.
On land repeaters, invented by Morse, boost the signal. The repeaters have their own battery. How
On land repeaters, invented by Morse, are installed every 20 miles with batteries to boost the signal. Have us this done with underwater cables?
How is this done with underwater cabels.
On land repeaters, invented by Morse, boost the signal. The repeaters have their own battery. How
On land repeaters, invented by Morse, are installed every 20 miles with batteries to boost the signal. Have us this done with underwater cables?
I use Morse's code nightly in my office as a ham operator of 40 years. We are basically the only ones left keeping this storied tradition alive. Besides, its extremely reliable. It gets through when other modes cant. I even have a small key collection with some pieces dating back to the 1870's, i've used them on the air. Its just a lot of fun.
Just curious: are you one of those fellows who joins a scheduled net using Morse, with RT for your callsign to "keep it legal"? I recall way back in my early ham days; the Technicians had just re-gained Novice privileges. One night in about 1975 I was tuning around for things to copy, and stumbled BADLY trying to copy traffic on a net. Then I heard D E [callsign], then more over which I promptly stumbled. Just curious, and, thanks!
@@The-Friendly-Grizzly No, i'm strictly a DXer, but i'm on CW most of the time. I dont do nets. I do follow the Dxers code of conduct, though. I am a very small station so its mostly listening and deciding when to pounce.
I'm currently learning morse code. I was inspired to learn it by Jack Phillips.
I'm a ham as well. We have kept it alive, almost single handedly, although the military and other "agencies have played their part. It gets through when nothing else can. Although there are newer digital modes that beat morse on this capability, Morse offers one benefit, nothing else does: You don't need a computer on and fancy or expensive equipment. A licensed operator can communicate on the bares of essentials using some common components set in a used Tuna can, a 9 volt battery, and a long wire. When SHTF, morse will save you. And thanks to worldwide hams, that capability stands ready at all times.
based.
I’m a telephone technician of 25years from CT. I worked in the area of the first “phone book”. I was able to handle and keep running telephone on stuff from near the beginning of the technology. Wires coated in cloth and held with wooden staples, porcelain ground connections, the oldest cable I spliced was laid in 1913. I cannot wait for the next video.
M O R S E, not Morris, Morse, one syllable. His full name was Samuel Finley Breese Morse.
I became interested in him after passing by his house on Route 9 in Poughkeepsie every day on the way to work. It was his summer home until he died in 1872. A smart and talented man.
Morriss, rhymiss with horiss. Pauliss Reveriss didn't ride a horse, he rode a horriss.
@@billscow I came here to say the same thing 🤣 surprised he didn't say the pony express rode horases.
Thanks for saying that, it was driving me absolutely nuts! Sacrilege!
I made it half way thru. How trustworthy is history when it is coming from someone who thinks Morris invented Morse code. If he can screw up that obviously, I will get my history elsewhere.
When I read "What happened to America’s Telegraph lines?", I thought I was going to learn about the actual telegraph wires and where they are today. I'll bet that, in New York City, on some street corners in lower Manhattan, there are manholes in the pavement that, if opened, will be found to still contain 100+ year old solid copper telegraph lines. Although their use was dwindling, they were still used for teletype transmissions until the 1970s when computer to computer communication over telephone lines became more reliable. Who knows? Some might still be in use for other purposes.
That title is a bit misleading. I also thought of the actual lines not companies.
All titles of his videos are mislead
Many useful ducts have been reused for fibre because the right of way, or wayleave, is more valuable than the copper.
There are even methods of hydraulically pulling out the old copper and using old cable sheathing as a duct without digging.
I was using teletype in the late 80’s to make international hotel reservations at small hotels
That's what I thought. Thanks for the heads up. Now I can stop watching.
There's Telegraph lines and poles laying down in the woods behind my house from when there was a mill back there a hundred plus years ago. This used to be a town back in the day and now its all woods with a few artifacts here and there. Been hanging out in them woods since childhood
You may need a proof reader or something. Morse did not get his patent in 1938. It was 100 years earlier. Internet notes if as 1840.
Yes. At 9.19 of this video I noticed it says 1938.
Yes just made the same comment above. He was dead by 1872. Unless his ghost applied for it...
And another History channel gets a "Dark Skies" badge/medal.;)
Yeah, but during the same instant on the video it shows black and white of a guy that looks like it could be from 1938.
And the cable laying boat was called Ag-ah-mem-non, not Ag-ah-men-non. The boat was named for a character in Greek mythology in the Trojan war.
I live along one of the abandoned lines from the big 4 railroad. There's a few places locally that still have the telegraph line along the old railroad tracks. Walked along it a couple years ago and found a few of the glass insulators in perfect condition.
Waiting for part 2 when you answer the question of the title. I'm not the only one here with this observation. Your videos are good enough that you don't need to use inaccurate or misleading titles. This is constructive criticism.
But for someone living in Chicago for the past 28 years, growing up in Philadelphia, and spending plenty of time in New York, I fricken LOVE your videos. Finding lost, hidden or lesser known history is a passion of mine. Thank you!!!
It became outdated
It's like this ( Take all the time you need, but hurry up about it.) Just joking.
A very informative and entertaining video and none the less. But yes what did happen to the lines
Telegraph replaced by telephone, telephone lines buried underground, being replaced by wireless cellphones. Surgical placement of cellphones inside the brain? Perhaps, borgification is in the future.
Telegraph poles & wires easy to spot in Vintage city photos b/c they often run parallel to nearby Railroad tracks.
The telegraph was electric, but not electronic. Look it up.
Yeah, I heard that too. Gotta have a tube or transistor in there to be "electronic" :-)
Ship radio officer here
Last vessel I worked on that I stood a 500khz cw Morse watch was in 1997
Surprised it lasted that long. Thanks.
When I had to take the Alarm School course I had to learn the history of a burglary/fire systems and they used telegraph lines for it. In some parts of New England today there are still call boxes that were used back then. A lot of them were retro fitted to use telephones but originally had bells and telegraph equipment.
American District Telegraph now known simply as ADT. In the early days of the telephone they were experimenting with telephone over telegraph wires during non business hours in St Louis. That was spun off to eventually become Southwestern Bell telephone now known at at&t.
So glad you payed attention during your alarm classes. Many of those telegraph lines became McCulloh circuits which were used to monitor fire alarm (sprinkler, manual pull boxes and supervisory signals). McCulloh circuits were modified series circuits and were run in a small geographic areas Several customers in that area shared the line. The transmitters attached were identified by a code wheel which would tap out their individual transmitter number in a central office (now called central stations). The signals were received on a register, much like a ticker tape. Some were in ink while others punched out holes on a paper tape. Today they are all but gone. As BLUE SKY SCHOLAR said, ADT was one of the first to use these services. Others were Holmes Protection, and Automatic Fire Alarm co (AFA). These three early alarm companies were known as telegraph companies affording them special advantages over regular alarm companies. In later years, late 50's to 60's, others deployed McCulloh circuits to monitor their customers.
Former alarm school instructor,
So what happened to America’s telegraph lines? Nearly 30 minute video and I still don't know.
I don't know if it will interests anyone but I'm an American over-the-road truck driver. There are remains of telegraph lines in at least two places I can spot from the interstates. One of them is on southbound side of I-57 just south of Chicago. The other place I know of is own I-70 around Columbus Missouri clearly visible from the eastbound Lanes . in both instances numerous Telegraph poles are still standing with blue glass insulators on them some still have the lines stretch between them some you can see the lines dangling to the Earth. These polls are shorter then modern telephone or electric Poles. I've often been amazed that they're still standing over this period of time considering they are wooden poles. But I'm sure they was heavily treated with creosote.
I had a co-worker at a remote communications site that had a ham radio setup there. He had been a Ham for 50 years starting when he was 16. He could 30 to 40 words a minute and had a gold plated dual key setup. We worked for that company with the two Ts in it.
🤔Ummm…Was the first letter an “A” or an “I”?… (just asking!…)
@@Sedgewise47 it was an A.
Yeah I am an American,
And I live in Texas,
And I was out in the western part of the state,
And as I remember,
That old road had a sign on it ,
It was called ,” r Telegraph road ,
I really thought that it was definitely very interesting,
And as I drove along that scraggly old road, I noticed several old,
What appeared to be very old and dilapidated telephone poles,
And several of those poles were broken, with their cross arms broken off, and down on the ground,
Their were Ceramic insulators that were affixed to those cross-bars,
And there was bare copper wire wrapped around those insulators along the roadway,
Since I didn’t know what those things were,
And I definitely didn’t want to risk electrocution ,
I left everything alone;
However,
The next day,
I made a trip to the big -city library,
And I took some time researching the old telegraph routes, or maps,
And to my great surprise,
I discovered that the old telegraph lines ran along that route;
I did lots of researching,
And I found the exact route that the old telegraph network used,
So several days later,
I drove out there, along with my photo-copies, or Xerox’s of those maps from the l Library, as a Guide ,
With the Exception of a few of those old telegraph poles,
There wasn’t anything,
I did some research on the internets and I found an brief article or two about some telegraph stations that were still intact,
Unfortunately I wasn’t able to go out there and check everything out because it was a very long long drive,
And I have to work;
It’s definitely something for my to-do list;
This whole thing is very interesting to me;
Take care everyone
Thanks for a cool story
I always heard SOS was "save our souls" as it almost imposable to save a sinking ship at sea... Great video....
It was just an easily recognized pattern. It doesn't mean anything.
One of many things that basically have zero actual meaning, despite what people think.
Examples are Häagen-Dazs, which is just a non sense word, that the founder simply that was a Danish sounding name.
Or Idaho, which was just a made up word.
When I was in the Army it meant "shit on a shingle" 😀
@@christophertharonivankenne7611 Dude, get some professional help.
@@alcoholic2412 In other words, chipped-beef gravy on toast -- a somewhat different meaning!
Well, I made it through 10 minutes and about 35 references to "Morris."
It was driving me crazy.
If you take a trip on some trains, passing through the boonies (and in some urban areas) you can still find unused "telephone poles" with crossbars, and even some with insulators (and a very few with dangling wires) along the path of the railway.
Good video, but the question in the title went unanswered. What exactly did happen to the physical telegraph lines that were strung up across the world? Are there any left standing?
As late as the 70's Western Union had what were known as migratory cable crews. Mostly laborer's who would collect the copper wire for sale as scrap. If you are near any rail lines with poles with no wires, they are/were probably Western Union.
In Alaska the telegraph wires were strung from around Valdez/Cordova to Ft Egbert in Eagle. It was called Wamcats. There were also some telephone poles still standing along the Alaska Railroad. My grandad (born 1880) worked for the Pennsylvania Railroad as a telegrapher and the code was American code, not Morse.
Hey, there’s a telegraph line-you got yours and I got mine!
On my first trip to sea (MV Holly Bank) the radio operator use Morse. I was amazed how he could understand anything and even notice styles and even accents! All radio operators became mad and alcoholic. Or maybe it was in the job description.
I'm mad but a tea totellar
After Marconi invented wireless radio transmission around 1911, Morse code didn't need transmission lines anymore. A good transmitter and long wire antenna will get you an HF signal from thousands of miles away bounced off layers of the atmosphere.. Militaries around the world still use it, formatted and encoded...in missions and as a backup system when the computers all get fried, and dont forget the thousands of ham operators......from an old ASA Hog...(remember the end of the movie Independence Day?) The video, I felt, was confusing at times as he mentioned 1938 as the start date, when he meant 1838, and he was narrating about the 1800's while showing videos from the 1900's...entertaining though...
Just commenting on your critique of the choice of video being in the 1900's when he was talking about the 1800s. The only video footage of anything publicly available is from the late 1880s, and finding any free use videos pretaining to the topic in the 1890s would also be very difficult to find if there's any. So yes there's going to be footage from the 1900s.
Actually, although Marconi ultimately gets the credit it was really Tesla who laid the ground work for radio and this is what Marconi used
The Great Eastern is the actual ship that carried the first successful transatlantic line in 1865. The Amethyst and Iris just assisted in the operation.
The topmast of the Great Eastern stands today as a flagpole at Anfield, the home of Liverpool F.C.
Hey WOW man, in the Fort Belvoir Virginia area, we have a Telegraph road, a Old Telegraph road, and some trails in Prince William Forest Park that follow sections of the old Telegraph and I read a sign that said that they sometimes followed Indian trails.
When we arrived in the U.S. in the mid-1960's from Cuba, we communicated with our relatives back home largely through Western Union telegrams . . . this up to the early 1970's. The use of phones to reach them after that was less than satisfactory, many times the operators there cutting off the conversations. Also, my first computer programming job was with Western Union in the late 70's. They were still using the Telex and Twix machines back then, slowly computerizing their operations.
To this day, we modern folks are still connected to this great invention. Don't believe me? All you have to do is look at one of America's oldest communication companies. The American Telegraph & Telephone Company. We know them by 3 letters... AT&T.
Edit: Yes, this company name does get mentioned during the video. I just want the viewer to make a modern connection to a technology that still affects us.
The ADT company has them beat by a few years a spin off would eventually become SWBT (SBC) the core of the company presently known as at&t as opposed to the former AT&T.
A friend of my parents was a telegraph operator for the Rutland Railroad of Vermont. The railroad was still using Morse code internally when it ceased operations in 1960.
What is missing in this "history" is the relationship of the railroad monopolies with the telegraph. They ran the lines along the track and had a pole and hook system to tap in anywhere along the track. that story should be in here.
Just to clarify, Morse Code used over land based wire telegraph lines is radically different from the International Morse Code, adopted for use over radio and ship code lights. Very important to make this distinction!!
Now, there's something I didn't know. I thought there was only one Morse Code.
Thanks.
Just to clarify: The Original Morse Code aka American Morse Code used dots and dashes of two different lengths as opposed to the International Morse Code which used dots and dashes of fixed (but relative) length. The American Morse Code died out of practical use at the end of the American Civil War. All land and radio telegraphy have used the International Morse Code since that time. Shipboard signal lamps do use Morse Code. However, the code is based on semaphore and certain adopted signals with special meanings, particularly among military vessels.
@@scottsatterthwaite4073 I have NEVER heard of this before, the Original/American Morse Code. Thank you for the education. 👍
@@scottsatterthwaite4073 When I was a kid, I used to copy code over the airwaves and I'd still come across railroad telegraphers who were using so-called "Railroad Morse," AKA American Morse Code. This would've been in the late 1960s. I believe the railroads used AMC much later than the Civil War.
Good work on this episode Ryan. Video editing and script were well prepared.
Cheers 🇨🇦
My late friend Delmar Maroney worked at Western Union as a technician in San Francisco for years.
He said the telegraph lines are still under the streets of the city & would still be working years later and WU had huge underwater lines going to Japan & elsewhere.
Great video Ryan, my favorite history Channel of all time . Keep up the good work !
The first instant communication meant news, business and communication no longer took days or months. Along with the railroads that could bring commerce and passengers to anywhere, the telegraph were the revolutionary technologies that created the modern world.
And that's when spam started.
The questions I never knew I had. Thank you for providing the answers!
It's crazy how they ran a cable across the ocean wow and as you think about it wasn't that long ago but I am looking forward for the telephone video can't wait 😋👌🏼
This is a fine documentary; I congratulate you. One nit to pick: at 7:50 or so, you show a chart of the dashes and dots for the various letters. Here is the nit: what you show is in fact the radiotelegraph code, which differs slightly from what WU and others used, which is quite properly called Morse Code.
1938? I think we missed the mark on that one. They had it during the civil war, on the Titanic etc.
From 2003 thru 2013 I ran a telegraph line 1.25 miles from my office to my saw mill office manned by an employee who also understood the proper operation and 19th century code messaging. Cell phones were banned for safety issues. In the 10 years it was in operation 9,012 messages were sent and received, and more than 1 million board feet of lumber was produced with a single blade band saw. No injuries ever occured. Now the mill has been completely rebuilt and is now on my property, ready to restart in the spring of 2022. When you live in Seward Alaska area, you need to create your own future. No one is going to hand you a living, unless your working for wages or living off the goverment tit. Thank you for this video, l just wanted people to understand that the 19th century is not that long ago...at least here.
now I would love to see a documentary on that set up. Incredible.
The maps are similar to, but not necessarily, telegraph routes. They are the program routes of AT&T Long Lines for the different radio broadcast networks. NBC used both the red & blue networks, usually running different programs. The US government required NBC/RCA to sell off one network.
Which became ABC.
I remember as a kid in the late 60s in Kansas, the local Santa Fe train station in the small town we lived in, still had a working telegraph.
Telegraph sounders did not beep, they clicked.
Great video. Megaprojects or sideprojects has a good vid on the trans Atlantic cable. I think it gets into it's construction a little more than you could find. I love the footage you have put here and the explanation of the systems.
Gotta love Fact Boy. *AM I RIGHT, PETER?!*
Morse code. Not Morris code.
Great vid. Lots of information I've always wondered about. 👍💯
Not a war horn. Gun powder horn for rifles.
I was told by a local small business that was a WU agent that one could still send telegrams until 2007.
I remember the "Mailgram". It was a message sent to your local telegraph office, then mailed to your house rather than being hand delivered.
Remember "candygrams"? You'd send a telegram and they'd deliver candy to the recipient along with the telegram.
Two items; one,you forgot the railroads telegraph systems,very extensive,and two,one of my ancestors was a ship captain,who helped lay the Atlantic cable! I don't know,if it was the first or second,and I do not know his name,but it was a part of my family history[mother's side]. Thank you for a most interesting side view of history! ⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡☄☄☄☄☄⚡⚡⚡
As a kid I used to go with my brother to hike along the railroad tracks in rural Arkansas. I remember the telegraph poles that followed the RR right of way which had literally hundreds of bare copper wires mounted on poles with a dozen crossbars with hundreds of glass insulators. We used have contests where we would throw rocks into the matrix of wires to see how many "plinks" we could make.
Wow! Thank you. First video of your channel I've watched. I'm really impressed. Subscribed.
Correction on Samuel Morse. He invited Morse code because when he was on a trip to Washington DC his wife fell ill and a letter was sent for him to return home to be by her side. However this letter came too late and by the time he received it his wife had passed away thus inspiring him to create a more effective way of telegraph via a code
Powder horn a bit hard to blow a warning through.Maybe a shofar would have been a better example.But black powder does carry a message.
I have memories of receiving telegrams from relatives back in the UK (I live in Bermuda), as late as the early 80's. I remember Cable & Wireless had a telegraph office active here until the mid 90's I believe. It was very cool to receive a telegram, something very special about it.
On another note, we can thank the telegraph for creating some of the very acronyms we use today for texting.
I agree. My ex-wife was from Jamaica WI and she & her family sent important messages back & forth (NYC to Jamaica) by telegraph in the 1980's.
This should be a good one. I remember from other TH-cam videos how here in the UK telegraph rights of way or especially tunnels were reperposed for phone or internet cabling in the 80s, 90s and the naughties. Also some pneumatic message capsule delivery networks, and even hydraulic power delivery networks assumed the same roles ( these latter 2 networks covered most of inner London plus some city centers outside, eg Birmingham or Manchester).
There is an excellent vid on youtube on the Australian Overland Telegraph.. awesome! Real operators of the day are interviewed.
you can see a ton along rail lines. Rode trains for several years around the US and on older lines outside cities you see them everywhere
The one story I had not heard, was the accuracy problem. That was news to me. Thanks.
Every time you say Morse it sounds like Morris
Morriss, rhymiss with horiss. Pauliss Reveriss didn't ride a horse, he rode a horriss.
Very good and detailed video! Very interesting.
Pilots still use Morse code, our communication beacons send out Morse code automated of course so we can receive their position thus triangulating ours relative to theirs in case of emergency. Mind you most pilots could care less for it but I found it important to learn just in case.
I`ve picked up those signal beacons on longwave.
I thought I heard years ago that morse code isn't taught any more?
@@jmanherejman3813 In canada its in your books that are registered by transport canada when you first start. It's your choice to learn if you want.
Many private pilots depend entirely on GPS now...a big mistake.
@@johnfeet5476 Agreed.
Telegraph lines are still used today. If you go by a railroad track and see white pole (4 high) with an orange top or along a roadway those are telegraph line. Not all are marked but do run along railroad tracks. To dig or bore along one you need about 3 permits and 4 different observers.
We still have telegraph poles in my town. There a few here and there. Its pretty nest. Yes we still pay phones (not working. We also have a little tiny photomat thats still there but closed. Creepy little town but it is part of the first land purchase ever by comgress on July 5th 1776
You know that Nord VPN got hacked in 2018?!?!
Excited to see this one!!
Thank you for this!
The Photo at 25 mins Looks like the Powers Building at Main and State st in Rochester . Thank you for the Video .
"Morris recieved a patient for it's single circuit electric telegraph in 1938" I am pretty sure he was supposed to say 1838 or else Morris was really late to the party! Lol
Great video, but I think at the end you meant that it's importance can't be OVERstated...
So what happened to get actual telegraph lines? Their routes can still be found easily. Some are actually named Telegragh Road!
Good stuff Ryan
Very good video. I guess this all boils down to "We stand on the shoulders of giants."
My late friend Delmar Maroney worked at Western Union in San Francisco for years. His job was to maintain the equipment. He told me that even though the Market Street office closed all the cables are still connected to rail lines and undersea cables to the Pacific & in New York to the Atlantic.
Two Cowboys sitting on horses looking at telegraph lines.
One turns the other and says I guess we better learn to code. Morse code.
I remember seeing lots of in use and a abandoned train tracks with these telegraph poles. Miles and miles. With sections of wore on some of them. Some still with insulators (I've got a small collection) now it's very rare in the same area to see any reminants
Morris Code? It’s Morse Code.
Morriss, rhymiss with horiss. Pauliss Reveriss didn't ride a horse, he rode a horriss.
It's history!!! Is in my top 3 of TH-cam channels.
Have thought about taking the copper of some abandoned Telegraph lines, miles of them here
It was copper plated steel. Copper is too soft to set the poles very far apart.
@@michaelterrell so is that why they're green? Surprised they would use copper to cover steel lines when the copper would of conducted better. Could of just tied it to a steel line for support instead.
@@alphonsobutlakiv789 The copper plating was to reduce rusting. Adding a messenger wire in those days would have been quite expensive. Antenna wire for early radios was the same type, but a thinner gauge.
How were you going to hang copper from a messenger in the pre plastic days?
On June 20, 1840, Samuel F. B. Morse was granted U.S. Patent No. 1,647A ! CC shows it as 1938 😞
Worked with a guy that was a radio operator in the Navy. He told me the fastest Morse Code operators in the world were guys on submarines. Speed was the need to get under water again.
Nice video. One point of accuracy: there is no "I" in MORSE. Why do people pronounce the name as Morris?
Glad I'm not the only one hearing it.
Because Pauliss Reveriss didn't ride a horse, he rode a horriss.
Back in the 70's I worked on a ship called the css longlines, we picked up telephone cable from the Azores to the U.S.. most everyone hated it. Supposedly it was a record breaking job.
Shouldn't have answered
The last Telegraph Tech retired from Southwestern Bell in March 2000
Love your videos, wish you’d dial down the intro music though, it’s way too loud and has actually stopped me from watching your videos at times.
In a related story, in 1982 the vocal group The Capris released a 50's style doo-wop song called - Morse Code of Love. Check it out. It's great and nice to see the cultural impact telegraphy has had as recently as that.
Great song! The Manhattan Transfer did a nice cover as well!
Morse code is hidden everywhere. If you listen to the theme song for the PBS detective series "Morse," M O R S E is being tapped out in the background. And the beacon atop the Capitol Records Building in Hollywood is flashing H O L L Y W O O D.
The voice and subtitled to this video are peppered with errors: Morris=Morse, Vault=volt. Come on guys, get your ship together!
G'day mate awesome channel well done very interesting buddy 👍👍🇦🇺🇦🇺
At least until the early 1980's, Western Union still had point to point telegraph circuits working over various telecom network cables. I know this for a fact, because I was a splicing technician for "Illinois Bell", tasked to re-splice them when a cable was cut, and they had an uncommonly high voltage on them compared to regular dial tone, or "Plain Old Telephone Service" line voltage of about 50 volts DC. One co worker had his back touching a metal ladder, while he was handling the telegraph circuit lines, and he was so frustrated as to getting shocked that I was put in his place to do the work (I was an apprentice at the time) Luckily, I survived the work operation and reached retirement.
"POTS" I haven't heard that term in a long, long, while my friend. Thanks for that.
Kendall County in Illinois is named after Amos Kendall. I had no idea that Kendall was involved with Samuel Morse.
There was no 'Electronic telegraph', it was an Electrical Telegraph.'. Electronics were developed after Radio.
Technically, it was "Electromagnetic Telegraph".
@@scottsatterthwaite4073 There was also a Chemical Telegraph that used a conductive paper to record the message, but bot are electric. it never really caught on.
It worked out extremely well...
The telegragh poles served a dual purpose when AC power was distributed...
I guess that depends on where you lived. I always thought they were called "telephone poles."
@@jeffgolden253 That's because telephone service came to most rural areas long before electricity did -- so people were already used to calling them "phone poles." A friend of mine worked for the electric company, and would correct anyone who didn't say "utility poles."
Before AC power, the poles also were important in distribution of DC as well..
This is amazing to think a cross oceanic cable was ever acheived to long ago.
I found it odd nothing mentioned of the railroads part in the telegraph wires along the main lines especially after mentioning Cornelius Vanderbilt owner of the NYCRR. RR main lines also played a big part in fiber optics as they were laid along the main lines. SPRINT was or is owned at least in part by the Southern Pacific RR.
I used a telex in the mid 80’s to make overseas hotel reservations, most small hotels in Europe did not have faxes yet and even if they did the telex was a fraction of the cost of the phone call.
The EU rules on airline delays still entitle you to ask the airline to send a free Telex on your behalf. I've so wanted to ask an airline what they would do if I tried to exercise my right.
Telex is a bit outdated by now, but it isn't the same thing as telegraph. Telex transmits letters more or less in bytes (i.e., a whole letter in parallel, rather than in successive dots and dashes), using either Baudot or ASCII code.
@@carolthedabbler2105 over the old telegraph lines
@@kevinconrad6156 Ah -- that's what I get for not watching the entire video! So that would explain the existence of Telex machines in Western Union telegram offices.
I was expecting to see what ahappened to the lines themselves, not the companies.
In the early 70's - when I was a teenager living in Vancouver BC - I delivered telegrams on my bicycle to the Bayshore Inn that were for for Howard Hughes
"Morse received a patent for the single circuit electric telegraph in 1938." Must be a posthumous patent award, as Morse died in 1872.
15:57 - 16:11 This sounds _REMARKABLY_ like modern day AT&T, surprise surprise. Not delivering, then passing the buck around from department to department, never taking the blame, driving customers insane until they just give up. I guess they've been doing it A LOT longer than I realized. That explains why they are so good at it.
I had a cousin who laid a cable, I believe, from Albany, South Australia all the way to England.
I like how they put their disagreements aside for the sake of the nation.
Much of the video is of radio receivers and WW2 communications! Holy anachronism Batman!