The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1866-08-16
rom the Mil. Wisconsin.

From the Mil. Wisconsin
Interesting Letter from Hon. c. c. ShOleS.
Progress of the Telegraph in WiscOn-
sin.
The following interesting letter from Hon.
Z. q. SHotEs, of Keuosha, was sent to the
Cable Celebration at Spencer's College in
this city. 1t is we'll worth careful perusal
containing as it does, valuable information
relative to our present and proposed tele-
graphic communications
KENosHA, Aug. 4, 1866.
Young Mems Commercial and Literary Associa-
ffo" offhe National Spencerida Business COL
tege.
GENTLEMEN Il trust you will have "good
time" at your proposed demonstration in hon
or OF the successful laying Of the Atlantic Ca
Die, and In view of the occasion so full of in
spring interest, it seems as though failure in
any sense should be out of the question. No
doubt 1t is, and l regret that circumstances
preventive personal participation on my part
which was desired. In response to the call
for letter, had commenced ''History of
Telegraphing in Wisconsin," but finding this
would be too voluminous, it was thrown aside;
and send you instead, a few general thoughts
and facts which may or may not be accept
able, and which you will use or throw aside,
as may best suit you
First, however, a single scrap as to the past
and present of Milwaukee. in the history had
proposed. It's earliest Geographic date is
March, 1S4S, when by single wire it was
placed In ftful and very uncertain communi-
cation with the sea-b board. How vastly since
then, your facilities have been multiplied east
ward and southwark, l need not say. For the
North and West Milwaukee was at that time
the terminal point. Now, as the result of the
enterprise of the Wis. State Telegraph Co.,
and its successor, the n. W-how stands the
record. From Milwaukee as the initial point,
there stretches continuously not less than two
thousand miles of wire reaching and embra-
cling Houghton on Lake Superior, and Prairie
du Chlen, La Crosse, and st. Paul, on the
Mississippi, which with collateral lines in opera
ton leaves outside of connection with its COM
mercial centre, hardly village or city or COM
munity of consequence in the whole North
west, naturally tributary to Milwaukee. So
much for local progress. And l may as well
say here, that among the ambitious plans of
the n. W. Co., or its President, Mr.. Simmons,
is one of tapping the Russian extension at Vic
tori, by the way of st. Paul and Pembina-
with the view as this is the shortest and most
reliable route, of making his a part of the
grand trunk line-which is to girdle the earth.
st. Cloud on that route, will be reached this
season.
But to our "general thoughts :" Of all the
wonderful achievements of science, since the
world began, the subjugation of the electrical
element to human will and control, as a com
mon carrier of thought and intelligence, is the
most remarkable.
And of all the developments of science, du-
ring so brief period as that since the first es-
Enlistment of electric telegraph lines in Eng
land in 1888, and France and the United States
in 1884, none, in their onward course have been
more rapid, or grand, or startling
Less than quarter of century has elapsed
since the first flash was made to record itself
by Ineligible signs, over a circuit of forty
No hi, Do14s
Behold now, what in extent and results, il
judged by old standards of thought and pro-
gress, might well be deemed the work of cen
turtles, if not entirely beyond the reach of hui
man accomplishment.
From the imperfect connection of the two
points named, the circuit has been extended
to embrace, on this continent, nearly ten thou
sand cities and villages, from the Gulf of st.
| Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico, and from the
Atlantic to the Pacific, while, from its first
feeble step of forty miles, the telegraph has
comprised, in its giant strides, an extent of at
least $50, 600 miles. And on the other CONT
nent, from its start in 1885, its progress has
| been no less great, covering, of aerial wire in
operation, over 250, 900 miles, and of cable, OF
| submerged, wire, eleven thousand miles. Hav-
| ing traversed the continent and brought with
| in its circuit remote communities and states
folding and binding them together as a close
| brotherhood in sympathy and interest, it has
at last, after repeated ntforts in the successful
submersiOn OF the ocean cable, brought both
| hemisphereS within the same charmed circle
thus uniting, with facilities of instant cOmmu
nication and Accommodation, all the
| countries of the earth. And we behold now
as the result of this connection, the consolida.
ton of the entire civilized world into one
grand, unbroken circuit, opening to mankind
| an era fraught with untold blessings and ben
etits, and giving the dawn of that period o.
''peace and good will' which was the burden
OF an angelic song at the beginning of the
Christian epoch, and which, through sucl
agencies as this, is to be the millennial realiza
ton of Christian civilization.
In contemplating the lightning speed O
thought and intelligence, free and row world
wide, endOwing the human mind, as it does
with sort of ubiquity or omnipresence SINH
lar to that which the inspired poet ascribes t.
the Deity,I cannot help quoting, in conclusion
the language of that ascription F:
.'Whither shall go from thy spirit, whittier shall
thou art there, if make my bed in hell behold thol
art there. If take the wings of the morning and fly
hand lead (precede) me, and thy right hand hole
me in its grasp. Ii say, surely the darkness shall
cover me, even the night shineth as the day. If
say my thoughts (acts) shall be concealed, behold
they are understood afar off.
That the Atlantic cable may prove perma
nent success-that the earth may soon be en-
tirely girdled by telegraphic wire in the com
pletion of the great Russo-American line nov
so rapidly progressing-that the Nations thu
brought together, may be held in perpetua
bonds of good fellowship, vieing with eacl
other only in the cultivation of the higher ant
nobler arts of peace and civilization; and thai
the names OF those who projected and carried
forward and accomplished those grand enter
prises may De cherished and honored among
men for all time, as worthy of the highes
place on the roll of this worlds bepefactors, il
my prayer Of living faith.
Yours truly,
c. c.. SHoLEs.