“THE MAGNETIC TELEGRAPH COMPANY.”
Early in November, 1845, the line was first opened between Philadelphia and Norristown, Pa. distant 14 miles, so as to gratify public curiosity, while the building was going on beyond. This was completed to Fort Lee on January 20, 1846, and from Baltimore to Philadelphia, June 5, the same year.
No attempt was made for a long time to cross the Hudson.
In April, 1850, two gutta percha covered wires were submerged at Fort Lee, which for a time did good service. Shortly after the formation of the Magnetic Telegraph Company (the Pioneer Telegraph Company in America), numerous organizations followed. In 1859, the company amalgamated with the American Telegraph Company.
THE WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH COMPANY AND ITS ORIGIN.
In April, 1854, a combination was agreed upon between the Erie and Michigan Telegraph Company and the New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company. The united capital being $500,000 under the name of the Western Union Telegraph Company, by an act of the legislature of Wisconsin, dated March 4, 1856, and of the State of New York, of April 4, 1856.
The following year the Michigan Southern Telegraph Company was added to this combination.
The headquarters of the Company were at Rochester, N.Y. Other companies joined the united companies and the Western Union found it necessary to transfer its headquarters to New York, but the most notable of these consolidations took place in 1866, when the United States Telegraph Company, as well as the American Telegraph Company, joined forces with the Western Union, thus virtually embracing the entire telegraph business of the country.