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From: "Gary R DOT Kazin" gkazin AT yahoo DOT com
Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2022 22:53:50 +0000 (UTC)
Subject: Re: [REPOST] Re: (erielack) Sol Palmer - Construction of First
Telegraph Line along the New York & Erie
"100130_IMG_5456.jpg" - image/jpeg, 5184x3456 (24bit)

I have visited the pier at Piermont. It reaches nearly halfway across the Hudson and may have been at the site of the original pier the Erie used in 1832. Near the east end are the ruins of a ferry slip; only the pilings remain. Photo taken 10/16/2021 attached.

The telegraph line could have been built along the pier, which would have reduced the underwater part about 50%.


Gary R. Kazin
Winter location:
CSX Milepost SX992.39FEC Milepost 321.51
Yamato RdBoca Raton, FL

Summer location:
DL&W RR Milepost R35.7
Rockaway, New Jersey

On Tuesday, March 22, 2022, 06:42:53 PM EDT, John Adams wrote:

I have been curious about this line linked up with Charles Minot development to use telegraph to dispatch trains. According to this link: http://www.telegraph-history.org/charles-minot/ Charles Minot became interested in the work of Cornell's work and convinced the railroad to build their own telegraph system for its own use. See below:

"Charles Minot became very interested in Cornell's work and subsequent conversations about telegraphy between the two resulted in Minot convincing officers of the N.Y.& Erie to build their own line along the railroad's right of way. It was to be used for the general business of the railroad. The new line was built in sections by railroad workers connecting Piermont, N.Y. (the railroad's eastern terminus located just north and across NYC on the west side of the Hudson River) to Dunkirk, N.Y. on the east coast of Lake Erie. Cornell supplied the railroad with Morse instruments (by J.W. Norton-NYC) and insulators."

John Adams

-----Original Message-----
From: Paul Tupaczewski
Sent: Tuesday, March 22, 2022 3:11 PM
To: EL Mail List
Subject: [REPOST] Re: (erielack) Sol Palmer - Construction of First Telegraph Line along the New York & Erie


From: Raymond Wetzel
To: ErieLack@lists.railfan.net
Sent: Tue, Mar 22, 2022 1:44 pm
Subject: Re: (erielack) Sol Palmer - Construction of First Telegraph Line along the New York & Erie

Your narrative of the first telegraph line along the New York and Erie Railroad is much appreciated, however, as indicated in the third paragraph here below, "Alas, one wishes for more specificity to this language   Anyway, I offer the piece for what it is . . . ," as there appears to be much amiss in much of this I'll attempt to clarify any misconceptions I've noticed. While said telegraph line is stated here {below) to have commenced on Broadway in New York City in 1845, no date for construction of this telegraph line along the New York & Erie RR's Newburgh Branch (chartered 1845 -- Greycourt to Newburgh and opened January 8, 1850) is mentioned but which would be essential to this piece. Why the wire would run up to Breakneck (and not continue to Beacon), only to cross the Hudson River 2 miles below this point (at about Garrison) is a mystery, but it would coincide with the wire as going through West Point -- almost directly across the river here, which would then a!
pparently go north along the west bank of the Hudson River along what was to become the New York West Shore & Buffalo RR (chartered in 1881).ROW to Newburgh.

A few points that do not fit in here is that the "New York & Erie line" WAS NOT "along the public roads from New York through Harlem, White Plains, Sing Sing, Peekskill," nor does the NY&E go through "Montrose, Ithaca, Dansville, Nunda, and Pike to Fredonia" as is stated in the last paragraph in the article below, according to any of my Erie timetables or Erie RR industrial maps. Harlem is on what was the New York & Harlem River RR at those years (1832 -- 1852), as was White Plains before being absorbed into the the New York Central & Hudson River RR along with the Hudson River RR.
Sing Sing, Peekskill and Montrose are on what was then (1846 - 1864) the Hudson River Railroad and the last four locations are in western New York State where the NY&E skirted some of them, it never ran through them.
Ithaca is northwest of Binghamton, but the NY&E didn't go though it; the Lehigh Valley did.

Lastly however, while Samuel F.B. Morse was first to send a telegraph over the experimental line he built from Washington, DC to Baltimore, MD in 1844, it's widely known that the New York & Erie was the first railroad to send a telegraph message -- as a train order-- from Harriman, NY (on the Main Line) to Goshen, NY in 1851 -- sent by NY&E Superintendent Charles Minot (previously, Superintendent of the Boston & Maine). There's a large bronze plaque affixed to a huge boulder just west of the Harriman Station location commemorating this event -- if it's still there and not taken, as was the large bronze plaque mounted the L&HR Warwick, NY office building
shortly after the assets public auction held there. I tend to doubt this
telegraph line along the Newburgh Branch would pre-date this, but it would be good to know exactly when it was built.

Ray Wetzel



-----Original Message-----
From: Abram Burnett (Ã�šÃ‘¢Ãƒï¿½ <>
To: erielack@lists.railfan.net
Sent: Mon, Mar 21, 2022 2:02 pm
Subject: (erielack) Sol Palmer - Construction of First Telegraph Line along the New York & Erie





Sometimes small hints, gleaned from obscure sources, are the details which complete a story. In that spirit, I offer this small item, which mentions construction of the first telegraph line from New York City, westwardly to Erie, Pa, using part of the NY&E R/W.






The article is taken from John B. Taltavall's 1893 work, Telegraphers of To-Day (sic,) pp 50-51. Taltavall (an Englishman) was editor of The Telegrapher magazine, and other periodicals as well. in the 1890s, he realized that the first generation of telegraph men was quickly slipping away, and assembled biographies and photographs of them, along with information on other prominent, but not first-generation, telegraph men.
The articles are short, but the book is a valuable resource.






This little article concerns one Sol Palmer, born in 1823, who was in charge of construction of the first telegraph line along any part of the Erie RR. According to the article, that line ran "through West Point to Newburg to Goshen, on the Erie Railroad, then west on the highway to Erie, Pa." Alas, one wishes for more specificity to this language.  Anyway, I offer the piece for what it is, in the hopes it may help someone.






>>




"SOL PALMER, Superintendent of Construction, Western Union Telegraph Company, St. Louis, was born at Yorktown, Westchester Co., N. Y., June 1, 1823. In the summer of 1845, he commenced the work of telegraph line construction on Broadway â€â€œ the first line that was ever built in New York City and from that day to this he has been engaged in the same work.








In May, 1853, when the company leased the O'Reilly line in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan and Illinois, Mr. Palmer was sent West to construct lines by the company which was then owned by Messrs. Jeptha Wade, John J. Speed and Ezra Cornell. The lines they owned were built on highways. After leaving New York city the wire ran up the Hudson through Peekskill to Break Neck, about two miles beyond where the wire crossed the river to Rutter Mountain, then up on the west side through West Point to Newburg to Goshen, on the Erie Railroad, then west on the highway to Erie, Pa., taking in all the small towns en route. The New York office at that time was at the corner of Exchange Place and Beaver street, on the third floor. The Operator in charge was William Butcher, who was one of the very first Operators to read by sound, rather from an embossed paper tape. Mr. Alonzo B. Cornell and Charles Robinson, were also sound operators in those early days in this office. The latter accompa!
nied Professor Morse to Europe, when he went there with his patent.








In June 1867, Mr. Palmer was appointed chief of construction of the Second District, with headquarters at St. Louis, and which position he still retains. Mr. Palmer, has been identified with the telegraph ever since Professor Morse built the first line between Washington and Baltimore. He is well and favorably known throughout the entire country."



<<








The indefatigable historian James Douglas Reid (1819-1901,) who was there for it all, tells us the exact route used by the line: "The route of the New York and Erie line was along the public roads from New York through Harlem, White Plains, Sing Sing, Peekskill, Newburg, Goshen, Middletown, Honesdale, Montrose, Binghamton, Ithaca, Dansville, Nunda and Pike to Fredonia." (The Telegraph in America: Its Founders, Promoters and Noted Men, Albany: 1879, page 290)






-- abram burnett





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