At the end of 1858, the first transatlantic cable had failed, leading a committee of inquiry to investigate the cause. But these short observations from a women's magazine reveal the extent of the telegraph worldwide, and the excitement people felt at being able to communicate with the rest of the globe nearly instantaneously.
Editor's Repository, Items Literary, Scientific, and Religious
Electric Speed
If our globe were entirely encompassed by a metallic thread, such as that already laid down between Europe and America, an electric current could make the tour of it in less than a second; and we can therefore fairly say that communications between the most distant points of the earth would be instantaneous. Such a velocity as this makes the motion of the sun, which it leaves far behind, seem slow; for the sun, in its apparent motion, passes over only about 1,050 miles -- fifteen degrees -- in an hour...
Extent of Telegraph Lines
The Merchants' Magazine says that there are in operation 107,150 miles of telegraphic lines, of which America has nearly as much as the rest of the whole world combined, namely, 45,000 miles. It is estimated that 4,000,000 messages pass over the American lines annually, yielding, probably, a net revenue of $6,000,000. There are nine hundred and fifty miles of submarine telegraph cable now in use, exclusive of the Atlantic cable.
Excerpt from The Ladies' Repository: a Monthly Periodical, Devoted to Literature, Arts, and Religion. Volume 8, Issue 12, December 1858, pp. 734-738. Courtesy of the Making of America Digital Library at the University of Michigan.
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