Muskingum County, Ohio - Chapter 20: Teiiegkaph and Telephone, 1882

Electric Telegraph - Brief Resume. - Experiments in electricity, having more or less bearing upon its practical use in telegraph communication were made by Winckler, at Leipsic, 1746 ; La Monier, in Paris ; Watson, in London, 1747 ; Lornord, in 1784; Betancour, at Madrid, 1798; Galvani's discovery of " Galvanism," at Bolonga, 1791 ; Prof. Volta's "Voltaic Battery," at Pavia, 1801 ; Soemmerring, at Munich, 1807 ; The practical use of Galvanism in telegraphs, as prophesied by John Redman Coxe of Philadelphia, in 1816. Great ad\-ance made by Prof. Oersted, at Copenhagen, in 1819. The Electromagnetic agency first full}' developed andapplied by Prof. Morse, 1832, patented 1840. The first telegraph by this agency in the United States, was between Washington and Baltimore, in 1844. Cooke & Wheatstone's patent in England. 1840. Bain's patent in England, first 1842 ; applied in United States, 1849. House's in 1848.

The O'Riley Telegraph Companj- was the first to introduce a line in Zanesville ; it was built by Henry O'Riley and F. O. J. Smith, and extended from Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and Louisville, hither. The office was opened in the spring of 1847, and Mr. A. C. Ross served the compan}- as operator gratuitoush' for six months, and ex- ercised supervision ovei- it for some time longer. The mode of operating at that time, was known as the Register, which was reading telegraph characters inscribed on ribbons of paper that were made to pass beneath a lead pencil, operated by electricity. This mode continued in use until about 1855, when the present mode of operating by sound began to be used. The mode by register is very rarely used now. In those days, the business was small, and one man did the operating, delivered messages and repaired the line, when it was needed. Now, the business requires three operators, two messengers and a man to do the repairing. In those days, from twenty-four to thirty-six hours were required to exchange messages with parties in New York ; now the time required is from fifteen to thirty minutes. Then, two wires did the duty for thi's entire section of country ; npw it takes from sixty to sixty-five wires. Then, from five hundred to six hundred words of press matter per day, was a long report ; now the average is three thousand words.

The last named gentleman has sei^ved continuously since the date of his appointment, and is still in the harness, as managing operator, held in high esteem by the company, and the people.

In i860, the company was again changed, and has ever since been known as the Western Union Telegraph Company. The territory wprked is the same, with some additions.

Telephone Company. - The telephone was introduced by R. A. Cunningham and M. W. Mansfield. The first instrument was put up June 16, 1879, and the central office was located in the Maginnis Block, over the Post Office. The enterprise started with forty subscribers, and was at once so manifestly advantageous that without further solicitation the list was soon increased to one hundred and seventy, and connections were made with all the schools, business houses, and a large number of private residences.

"The power behind the throne" was the "battery system ;" i.e : for the purpose of making a call or signaling, the electric force was supplied from a large battery, which was not only very expensive, but troublesome.

The Zanesville Telephone Company organized with a capital of $20,000. The charter is dated November nth, 1880 ; the incorporators: Martin W. Mansfield, Robert A. Cunningham, Thomas W. Gattrell, Thomas Griffith and W. A. Graham. The company determined to build telegraph lines to the surrounding towns, . and on putting wires on poles, and giving each subsci"iber his own wire to the central office. The old telephone exchange was sold to the new company, January i, 1881, and the Magneto system adopted, and connection made with the Western Union Telegraph office, so that subscribers can send messages from their own home to any place where an instrument is stationed, to any point ^reached by telegraph. Under the new system*, there are about ninety subscribers, and about one hundred miles of wire. Subscribers rates are about $40 per year.

In June, 1881, the stock of the company was purchased by E. M. Barton, and others, of Chicago. These parties are purchasing a large number of exchanges, in order to connect with trunk lines ; and it is deemed among the probabilities that ere two more annual cycles have been made, conversation by telephone may be carried on, within a radius of a thousand miles.