The Telegraph: The First Text Messenger

Transcription

1 The Telegraph: The First Text Messenger

2 What is a Telegraph Very new and modern technology that drastically increased the speed of communication between cities (even across the country) from days to minutes A message across the country could be delivered in about an hour A pony express letter took ten days to go from Missouri to California Electrical pulses were sent from one station to the next over lines similar to power lines today An operator translated the pulses or beeps into a message (called a telegram)

3 Morse Code One of the inventors of the telegraph (Samuel Morse) created a code called Morse Code It assigned a series of dots and dashes to each letter of the alphabet When a message is sent, a dot would be represented by a short electrical pulse and a dash would be represented by a long pulse Listen to example

4 Telegraph Abbreviations Telegraph operators used abbreviations to shorten messages so they could be sent more quickly Many operators worked for railroads They picture to the right is from an instruction manual for operators from 1901 showing some common abbreviations

5 Telegraph Abbreviations Abt 2 mi-about two miles II-I am ready GA-Go ahead SFD-Stop for dinner GM-Good morning 1-Wait a minute 2-Get answer immediately

6 Telegraph in Utah Plans were made for a telegraph line from Omaha, Nebraska to California Construction started in Nebraska and California at the same time and they were to meet in Salt Lake City Two different companies worked on the lines one started in Nebraska and the other in the west The leaders of the two companies placed a bet on who would get to Salt Lake City first The company starting in Nebraska got here first Finding enough telegraph poles was a constant challenge

7 Telegraph in Utah Brigham Young sent the first message from Salt Lake City Ran east and west of SLC Most settlements were north or South of SLC so it didn t help much to improve communication within Utah

8 Telegraph in Utah The Deseret Telegraph was planned that would connect outlying settlements with Salt Lake City A telegraphy school was started in Salt Lake City in 1866 (Brigham Young School of Telegraphy) Taught volunteers how to be telegraph operators Students learned Morse Code Essential Skills: Literacy and good handwriting Initially operators were men

9 Telegram Messages A telegraph operator translated a message from English into Morse Code They then would transmit the message sending electrical pulses along the telegraph line When it reached its destination, the message would be decoded from Morse Code back into English by a telegraph operator at the destination

10 Telegraph Operators At first most operators were men trying to support a family, but the job didn t pay well enough to do so Women were recruited to become operators Some telegraph offices were in homes so some women could work as operators and still do things around the house between answering calls

11 Telegraph Operators Some of the new young women operators were as young as 15 Most were years old Earned a little extra spending money Earned about cents a day Later operators learned on the job Sometimes the knowledge was passed from one generation to another (learning from older siblings or parents)

12 Telegraph Operators Some telegraph offices were located in train stations Passengers would run off the train, send their messages, and run back on the train before it left Best operators could do 60 messages in one hour and words a minute They learned read messages by listening to the clicking of the machine instead of reading dots and dashes on the paper tape the machine printed

13 Telegraph Operators New operators were initiated by more experienced operators playing tricks on them Messages received from fake names like L.E. Phant Receiving fake messages from a really fast operator they would start out at a normal speed and gradually get faster and faster until the new operator could no longer keep up

14 William Bryan William Bryan became a telegraph operator west of Salt Lake City Later he accompanied Brigham Young as his private operator when he made his tours of distant settlements. Brigham Young s secretary in Salt Lake City would compile the news and send a message to William Bryan Sometimes Brigham Young would not be near a telegraph station, so William Bryan would attach his machine to any line nearby once he set up on top of a woodpile in snowstorm in Scipio, UT

15 Similarities to Internet More opportunities for crime Telegraph: sending fake stock prices or incorrect horse race results Internet: Hackers and fake store fronts Security has been an issue in both technologies and both have come up with secret codes Telegraph: Commercial/Business codes Internet: Password and credit card encryption

16 Similarities to Internet Both had their own abbreviations and jargon Telegraph: Bonus Men (fastest operators) Internet: lol, btw, l8tr, bff, idk, surfing, emoticons

17 Similarities to Internet s go from server to server; telegrams went from operator to operator Computers use a common language to exchange info telegraph operators used common abbreviations and codes Conflict between experienced and inexperienced users

18 Similarities to the Internet Increased speed of communication over large distances Led to a shrinking world because you could communicate quickly with other places Online romance Telegraph operators would flirt with other operators in other locations during slow times sometimes resulting in romances and marriage in a few cases