N&W Agreement with Western Union Telegraph Co. ?

[NW Mailing List]

A question for Those-Who-Burrow through the N&W Archives at Shaffers Crossing...

Have you ever found a copy of an N&W agreement with Western Union, in which the N&W granted WU right-of-way for its pole line, and WU agreed to provide telegraph equipment and services to the railroad?

These agreements were in effect on most railroads.  They date back to either late 1851 or early 1852, when Charles Minot, Supt. of the Erie and "Father of the Train Order,"  made such an agreement with one of Ezra Cornell's telegraph companies.

It's one of those "everybody knows" histories, but I have never seen one of the actual agreements.

Does a copy exist in the Archives...?

-- 73 SW &
    (abram burnet)

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                  Sent to You from my Telegraph Key
Successor to the MAGNETIC TELEGRAPH LINE of 1844
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