File:Bell telephone magazine (1922) (14756690415).jpg

Identifier: belltelephonemag19amerrich (find matches)
Title: Bell telephone magazine
Year: 1922 (1920s)
Authors: American Telephone and Telegraph Company American Telephone and Telegraph Company. Information Dept
Subjects: Telephone
Publisher: (New York, American Telephone and Telegraph Co., etc.)
Contributing Library: Prelinger Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Internet Archive

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centsI in 1855 and remained at that figurej until 1863. j 1 HE mails which were carried to1 and from the Pacific coast by way ofI Panama were usually about a monthin transit. In February, 1858, whatseems to have been a record between New York and San Francisco was es-( tablished when the steamer GoldenAge reached the latter city with mails( that had left the dock in New Yorktwenty-one days, two hours and thir-teen minutes before. This reallyi commendable speed record compares most favorably with the best that wascredited to the next form of commu-nication across the continent—the fa-mous Overland Mail, which supple-mented it but did not supplant it.The relative permanence of the serv-ice by steamship was assured by itsability to handle large volumes ofnewspaper and other mail which didnot require speed of transmission andwhich could not be handled efficientlyor economically by other means oftransportation that were in use priorto the building of the first transconti-nental railroad.
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i9^0 The Conquest of a Continent 205 The Overland Mail Indeed, it seems certain that thenecessity for greater speed was not thecontrolling factor in bringing aboutthe establishment of the OverlandMail. Service by steamship, al-though expensive, had met rather ef-fectively the needs of both the easternand western coasts of the continent.It did not so well meet the needs ofthe rapidly developing region that layin the basin of the Mississippi. Moreparticularly, so far as the eastern sea-board was concerned, it was of espe-cial advantage to the industrial North,where abolitionist theories were gain-ing strong foothold; it was of far lessvalue to the cotton-raising, slave-holding South. Issues between Northand South were becoming more acute,and each was eager to strengthen itsties with the more remote western sec-tions of the country, and particularlywith California, which, in the eventof open conflict, could supply vastquantities of gold to that side withwhich it might cast its lot. These

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