Sponsored
First Telegraph Line Across the Continent - by Dennis N Mihelich & James E Potter (Paperback)
About this item
Highlights
- 2012 Nebraska Book Award: Cover/Design/IllustrationThe transcontinental telegraph was a remarkable technological feat that had major consequences for the West and the nation as a whole.
- Author(s): Dennis N Mihelich & James E Potter
- 133 Pages
- Technology, Telecommunications
Description
About the Book
"Brown's diary is published with the permission of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. (Western Union Telegraph Company Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.)"--T.p. verso.Book Synopsis
2012 Nebraska Book Award: Cover/Design/Illustration
The transcontinental telegraph was a remarkable technological feat that had major consequences for the West and the nation as a whole. Yet relatively little has been written about it.
Recently re-discovered in the Smithsonian Institution collections, this previously unpublished diary is the only known extensive source written about the day-to-day construction of one segment of the first transcontinental telegraph line.
Brown's lively narrative is filled with period detail about individuals, road ranches, attitudes toward Indians, public promotion of the spirit of Manifest Destiny, difficulties facing construction crews, the nature of frontier law enforcement, and even the issues of secession and Civil War.
Review Quotes
"Brown's perception, insights and lively style make this a great narrative."--John D. McDermott, author of Guardians of the Pacific Telegraph and many books on the western experience