Scope and Contents

March 8, 1847. Proposal of new venture from John Norton to Ezra Cornell, involving communication with Nova Scotia by visual telegraph (Eastern telegraph project). Topics: Telegraph business correspondence: conflicts, subscription sales in Milwaukee and Detroit, establishment of new lines, finances, patent rights. Personal names: Smith, F.O.J.; Tillotson, D.T.; Speed, J.J.; Cornell, E.B.; Norton, John W. Geography:

Scope and Contents March 31, 1847. C.F. Johnson to Ezra Cornell, discussing Eastern telegraph project and use of visual telegraph signals over long distances. April 10, 1847. Ezra Cornell to Alonzo B. Cornell: "?have a book in reach for every leisure moment." April 17, 1847. Telegraph messages to and from Ezra Cornell. April 19, 1847. M.B. Wood to Ezra Cornell discussing family news and possible employment when telegraph is constructed in Michigan. Topics: Telegraph business correspondence: subscription...

Scope and Contents April 29, 1847. Ezra Cornell to Alonzo B. Cornell: "?we were out last evening on an experiment, Merrit 12 miles west of Boston on a (hill) and I was 10 miles East of Boston on another, and the result was OK notwithstanding the clouds were thick enough to obscure the full moon, and terra firma was thinly veiled with fog. I have a fine lot of telescopes. I have one with which I can see the Mountains in the Moon?" May 2, 1847. J.J. Speed to Ezra Cornell discussing telegraph business and...

Scope and Contents May 29, 1847. Ezra Cornell to D.T. Tillotson: "We find people who on the start laughed at the folly (as they called it) of building telegraphs saying they would find nothing to do, who now furnish daily business for the line, and clamour the loudest if the line is out of order for a few hours so that they cannot be served at the moment." Regarding the telegraph in Canada: "See the difference, the Canadians are quarreling for the stock of a line that will never have half the business that the...

Scope and Contents

Topics: Telegraph business correspondence: visual telegraph: obstacles to the visual telegraph in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia; Erie & Michigan Telegraph Company. Personal names: Speed, J.J.; Tillotson, D.T.; Dunham, J.; Wood, M.L.; Cornell, E.B.; Park, J.D. Geography: Maine; Halifax.

Scope and Contents June 21, 1847. British North American Electric Telegraph Association to Ezra Cornell thanking him for assisting in instruction of operators and offering him the contract for crossing the St. Lawrence. Topics: Telegraph business correspondence: line extended from Boston to Portland, proposed line (Quebec & Halifax - Cornell contracted for first section), O'Reilly contract dispute; observations in Maine for visual telegraph. Personal names: Tillotson, D.T.; Dunham, J.; Speed, J.J.;...