During the first few years after the introduction of the electric
telegraph its progress was very slow. Capitalists were afraid to invest
in an undertaking so novel and precarious, and as a natural consequence
there was great difficulty in raising funds for properly building the
lines, and they were constructed in a very unreliable manner, breaks and
interruptions being rather the normal condition of the wires than the
exception.
At a very early period in the history of the electric telegraph in the
United States, a misunderstanding occurred between the Morse patentees
and a contractor under them, the result of which was that rival lines
were constructed throughout the country before the system had been
sufficiently developed to be remunerative, even without such
competition.
The invention of the letter-printing telegraph by Mr. House, in 1846,
and the introduction of the electro-chemical telegraph of Mr. Bain into
this country, in 1849, greatly facilitated the construction of competing
lines.
The first line operating under the House patent was completed in March,
1849, from Philadelphia to New York City. The Boston and New York
Telegraph Company, using the same patent, was completed in the autumn of
the same year, and was followed by one from New York to Buffalo, and
subsequently to St. Louis and Chicago.
During the year 1849, which was very prolific in the production of
competing lines, the Bain patent was introduced upon lines extending
between New York and Buffalo, and New York and Washington, and, in the
succeeding year, upon lines extending between Boston and Montreal, and
Boston and Portland.
In 1851 there were seven Bain lines in operation in the United States,
having over 2,000 miles of wire; eight House lines, having about 300
miles of wire; and sixty-seven Morse lines, having 20,000 miles of wire.
In the autumn of this year, the Morse and Bain lines between New York
and Washington were consolidated; and in the succeeding spring the Morse
and Bain lines between New York and Boston were united under one
company. The union of these lines was followed by that of the New York
and Buffalo Morse and Bain lines, and subsequently by those of the House
lines between these points.