A thumb-nail history of the city of Houston, Texas, from its founding in 1836 to the year 1912 Page: 170
184 p. : illus. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this book.
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CHAPTER ELEVEN.
The First Telegraph Line in Texas-Two Veteran
Operators-First Telephones-The Wireless
Telegraph Companies-Organization of the
First Electric Light Company.
The Houston Telegraph of March 18, 1858,
mentions the fact that some of the material for the
telegraph line betwen Houston and Galveston had
been received at the latter place. At that time the
land part of the line had been constructed, but the
two-mile stretch across the bay at Virginia Point
was causing a great deal of trouble. Modern submarine
cables were unknown at that time and many
substitutes for them were suggested and tried.
Finally the difficulty was overcome by using ordinary
iron wire covered with gutta percha, which
was warranted by its maker to last for one year and
which cost $850 per mile. But before the problem
was solved, the land part of the line grew old and
fell down, so that it was not until 1858 that an actual
working line was constructed between the two
cities, this being the first telegraph line constructed
in Texas. It was not a great financial undertaking,
since the cost of the entire fifty miles including the
two miles of bay, was only $6,200, of which the
Houston people contributed $8,000.
Having constructed the Galveston-Houston line
successfully, the owners formed a company called
the Star State Telegraph Company and built a
line along the Texas and New Orleans railroad
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Young, Samuel Oliver. A thumb-nail history of the city of Houston, Texas, from its founding in 1836 to the year 1912, book, 1912; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth24649/m1/188/: accessed May 1, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.