Pioneer Telegraph Office

Pioneer Telegraph Office. . , At this location on October 18 1861 stood the telegraph pole, shown on above plaque, on which telegraph wires were joined which spanned a continent and united two oceans. , On that date the first two telegrams transmitted were as follows: Great Salt Lake City, U.T. Oct. 18, 1861 “Hon. J. H. Wade, President of the Pacific Telegraph Company Cleveland, Ohio: , “Sir: Permit me to congratulate you upon the completion of the overland telegraph line west to this city, to commend the energy displayed by yourself and associates in the rapid and successful prosecution of a work so beneficial, and to express the wish that its use may ever tend to promote the true interests of the dwellers upon both the Atlantic and Pacific slopes on the continent. , “Utah has not seceeded, but is firm for the constitution and laws of our once happy country, and is warmly interested in such useful enterprises as the one so far completed. Brigham Young.” , The reply was as follows: Cleveland Oct. 19, 1861 “Hon. Brigham Young, President Great Salt Lake City: Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your message of last evening, which was every way gratifying, not only in the announcement of the completion of the Pacific Telegraph to your enterprising and prosperous city, but that your, the first message to pass over the line, should express so unmistakably the patriotism and union-loving sentiments of yourself and people. , “With just consideration for your high position and due respect for you personally. I am your obedient servant, J. H. Wade, Pres. Pacific Telegraph Company” , GSL City, Oct 18, 1861 ”To the President of the United States: Utah, whose citizens strenuously resist all imputations of disloyalty, congratulates the president upon the completion of an enterprise which spans the continent, unites two oceans, and connects with nerve of iron, the remote extremities of the body politic with the great government heart. May the whole system speedily thrill with the quickened pulsations of that heart, as the parricide hand is palsied, treason is banished, and the entire sisterhood of states join hands in glad reunion around the national fireside. Frank Fuller Acting Governor of the Utah Territory.” , Washington D. C., Oct. 20, ’61 “Hon. Frank Fuller, Acting Governor of Utah Sir: The completion of the telegraph to Great Salt Lake City is auspicious of the stability and union of the republic, the government reciprocates your congratulations. Abraham Lincoln.”