THE FIRST TELEGRAPH.
It was a little over six months after the completion of the Atchison & St. Joseph railroad that the first telegraph connection was established between Atchison and the world. The construction of the Missouri & Western telegraph line was begun in Syracuse, Mo., in 1859. Charles M. Stebbins built this telegraph line, which extended from Syracuse to Ft. Smith, Ark. A branch of this line was extended westward to Kansas City, and reached Leavenworth along in the spring of 1859. August 15, 1859, this branch was extended to Atchison, and it was a proud day in the history of this city. The first office was in a brick building on Commercial street adjoining the office of Freedom’s Champion. John T. Tracy was the first operator. Gen. Samuel C. Pomeroy was mayor, and on this account the honor was given him of sending the first message, which was as follows: “Atchison, August 15, 1859. His Honor, H. B. Denman, Mayor of Leavenworth. Our medium of communication is perfect. May our fraternal relations continue—may our prosperity and success equal our highest efforts. S. C. Pomeroy, Mayor of Atchison.” Mayor Denman replied as follows: “Hon. S. C. Pomeroy, Mayor of Atchison. May each push forward its works of enterprise and the efforts of each be crowned with success. H. B. Denman, Mayor of Leavenworth.” Congratulations were next exchanged between Atchison and St. Louis, as follows: “Atchison, August 15, 1859. Hon. O. D. Filley, Mayor of St. Louis. For the first time since the world began, a telegraph message is sent to St. Louis from this place, the farthest telegraph station in the West. Accept our congratulations and aid us in our progress westward. S. C. Pomeroy, Mayor of Atchison.” It was in October of that same year that the first news was flashed over the wire telling of the capture of Harper’s Ferry by old John Brown.
In connection with the question of early day transportation in Atchison county, it would be an oversight to fail to mention the efforts of one Thomas L. Fortune to improve the means of locomotion. Mr. Fortune was a citizen of Mt. Pleasant, and in the fall of 1859 he conceived the scheme which he believed would revolutionize the whole transportation problem. He planned a steam wagon with which he expected to haul freight across the plains. The following year he built at St. Louis, a large vehicle, twenty feet long by eight feet wide. The wheels were twenty inches wide and eight feet in diameter. This wagon was transported up the Missouri river to Atchison from St. Louis on the steamer, “Meteor,” and was landed from the steamer in front of the White Mice saloon, which was a noted resort on the Atchison levee at that time, in the latter part of June, 1860. The following account is taken from Frank A. Root’s “Overland Stage to California”:
A day or two after its arrival (referring to Fortune’s wagon) Mr. Root says that it was arranged that the steam wagon should make a trial trip on the Fourth of July. The monster was accordingly fired up on the eighty-fourth National anniversary and started by an engineer named Callahan. The wagon was ornamented with a number of flags and loaded with a crowd of anxious men and boys. When everything was in readiness the valve was opened and the wagon moved off in a southerly direction from the levee. It went all right until it reached the foot of Commercial street, about a square away. The pilot failing to turn the machine, it kept on straight up to the sidewalk and ran into A. S. Parker’s warehouse, which stood so many years by the old historic cottonwood tree at the southeast corner of Commercial street and the levee. The result of this awkward blunder was an accident, in which a son of the owner of the wagon had an arm broken, as the machine crashed into the side of the building, which was a long, one-story frame cottonwood structure that for a number of years was a noted landmark in Atchison. The excited engineer was at once let out and Lewis Higby, another engineer, and a natural genius, was sent for. Higby mounted the wagon and took his place at the engine, backed the machine out into the middle of the road and in a few minutes went sailing gracefully along west on Commercial street at about six miles per hour. When in front of Jesse Crall’s stable at the corner of Sixth street, before that part of Commercial street had been graded, it went down a little hill at a lively speed, but Higby kept it going and did not stop until it reached L. C. Challiss’ addition, just south and west from Commercial and Eighth streets, near Morgan Willard’s old foundry, built in 1859, away from the business and residence portion of the city.
After the wagon crossed Eighth street and was beyond the business houses, Higby turned on more steam, and the monster vehicle made about eight miles an hour, cavorting around on the bottom, there being only a few scattering buildings then west of Eighth street. To test the practicability of the machine, it was run into hollows and gullies, and, where the ground was soft it was found that the ponderous wheels would sink into the mud when standing still in soft ground. The result of the trial, witnessed by hundreds, was disappointing to most of those present. The inventor, who had spent a large amount of money and much time in trying to perfect his steam wagon and solve the overland transportation problem, was the worst disappointed. He was thoroughly disgusted. He saw at once that the use of the vehicle was impracticable and that it would never answer the purpose. That trial trip was the first and only one the “overland steam wagon” ever made. It was accordingly abandoned on the bottom where the tracks of the Central Branch and Santa Fe roads are now laid, and was never afterwards fired up. Those who had crossed the plains with mules and oxen, knew it could never be used in overland freighting. There was no use for any such vehicle and the anticipated reduction in prices of ox and mule teams did not take place. The timbers used in the framework of the machine that were not stolen finally went to decay, and the machinery was afterwards taken out and disposed of for other purposes.