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 Days versus Seconds . . . Posted by:  Volcanoguy
N 39° 23.505 W 117° 51.084
11S E 426683 N 4360596
History sign along Hwy. 50 about the Transcontinental Telegraph Line.
Waymark Code: WMVG49
Location: Nevada, United States
Date Posted: 04/14/2017
Views: 6
History sign at trailhead kiosk about the Transcontinental Telegraph Line ending the Pony Express. There are additional signs at this location.
Marker Title (required): Days versus Seconds . . .
Marker Text (required):
While Pony Express riders like Pony Bob Haslam were setting speed records, another group of hardy westerners was stringing a thin wire that would prove fatal to the future of the “Pony” and put an end to the West’s relative isolation from the rest of the Nation.
The wire was the Transcontinental Telegraph Line. When completed on October 24, 1861, it met the need for urgent communication between East and West that had created the Pony Express.
The Pony and its heroic riders, with skill, luck, and determination, could carry a message 2,000 miles in only 10 days, but it couldn’t compete with the “talking wire” that could transmit the same message in a mere 10 seconds.
The Pony Express, and with it, a colorful era of Western history, was at an end.
The remains of a Transcontinental Telegraph Station can be seen across the highway to the north. It too has been replaced by yet another innovation — telecommunications.
County (required): Churchill
Marker Type (required): Other (describe below)
Other Marker Type (optional): Fiberglass sign
Is Marker Damaged? (required): No
Other Damage Type (optional): BA
Marker Number (If official State Marker from NV SHPO website above, otherwise leave blank): Not Listed
URL - Website (optional): Not listed
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