N&W Agreement with Western Union Telegraph Co. ?

[NW Mailing List]

Adam,

     If my memory serves correctly I believe on the SVRR it was 
discussed in the Shenandoah Valley Railroad book(s) of Minutes. I saw it 
when the material was at VPI&SU when writing the Shenandoah Book. If I 
remember correctly it was originally a single line with ground return, 
and was later upgraded to two lines. This was in the early 1880s. Don't 
know about N&W.

Mason Cooper


On 3/24/2017 11:51 AM, NW Mailing List wrote:
> 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)
>
> ===========================================
>
>                    Sent to You from my Telegraph Key
> Successor to the MAGNETIC TELEGRAPH LINE of 1844
> ===========================================
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