Whig party held
its national convention in Baltimore, on May 1, 1844 nominated Henry
Clay. This news was hand-carried to Annapolis Junction (between Washington
and Baltimore) where Morse's partner, Alfred Vail, wired it to the Capitol.
This was the first news dispatched by electric telegraph.
Located between US Route 1 and the B&O
Railroad tracks near the intersection
with Ritz Way about 1 mile north of
Beltsville, MD.
Morse, Samuel F. B. (Finley Breese) 1791 -- 1872 Painter,
inventor; born in Charlestown, Mass. He began as a painter, studying
in England under Washington Allston and Benjamin West (1811).
In New York (1832), he began his many electrical experiments. From 1835
to 1838 he invented the telegraph, a method of transmitting a series
of dots and dashes, representing the alphabet, over telegraph lines
by means of electromagnets.
He received many honors. Later he experimented with submarine
cable telegraphy. He also introduced the daguerreotype, a photographic
process, to America (1839). Today he is honored for his work as both
a painter and an inventor.
While a professor of arts and design at New York University in 1835,
Samuel Morse proved that signals could be transmitted by wire. He used
pulses of current to deflect an electromagnet, which moved a marker
to produce written codes on a strip of paper - the invention of Morse
Code. The following year, the device was modified to emboss the paper
with dots and dashes. He gave a public demonstration in 1838, but it
was not until five years later that Congress (reflecting public apathy)
funded $30,000 to construct an experimental telegraph line from Washington
to Baltimore, a distance of 40 miles. The line was successfully installed,
May 24, 1844.
Before the line had reached Baltimore, the Whig party held its national
convention there, and on May 1, 1844, nominated Henry Clay. This news
was hand-carried to Annapolis Junction (between Washington and Baltimore)
where Morse's partner, Alfred Vail, wired it to the Capitol. This was
the first news dispatched by electric telegraph.
What Hath God Wrought?
The message, "What hath God wrought?" sent later by "Morse
Code" from the old Supreme Court chamber in the United States Capitol
to his partner in Baltimore, officially opened the completed line of
May 24, 1844. Morse allowed Annie Ellsworth, the young daughter of a
friend, to choose the words of the message, and she selected a verse
from Numbers XXIII, 23: "What hath God wrought?", which was
recorded onto paper tape. Morse's early system produced a paper copy
with raised dots and dashes, which were translated later by an operator.
"Pacific
Telegraph Act of 1860"
"An Act
to Facilitate Communication between
the Atlantic and Pacific
States by Electric
Telegraph"
Fort
Laramie National Historic Site
Crossroads of a Nation Moving West
Fort Laramie
was perhaps the single most important location in America's expansion into the
west. Founded in 1834 as a trading post, it became a military
fort in 1849. Until it closed in 1890, Fort
Laramie influenced
major evens in the history of the Trans-Mississippi West. From
the eras of the fur trade, the Oregon Trail
and the Indian Wars, the fort served as an American foothold in
a rapidly changing west.
Electrical Engineering Milestone
Transcontinental Telegraph
Between July 4 and October 24, 1861. A telegraph line was constructed
by the Western Union Telegraph Company between St.
Joseph, Missouri and
Sacramento California.
Thereby completing the fires high speed communications link between
the Atlantic and the Pacific coasts. This service met
the critical demand for fast communication between these two areas,
This telegraph line operated until May, 1869. When it was replaced
by a multi-wire system constructed with the Union Pacific and
Central Pacific Railroad line.
The Transcontinental Telegraph reached Fort Laramie
from the East on August5, 1861. From then until May 1869 Fort Laramie
was a major station on the telegraph line. Soldiers from Fort Laramie
protected the line, made repairs, and operated remote repeater
stations from Julesburg, Colorado
(150 miles to the East) to South
Pass, Wyoming
(300 miles to the West).
"Pacific
Telegraph Act of 1860"
"An
Act to Facilitate Communication
between the Atlantic and Pacific
States by
Electric Telegraph"
|