with

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ to them before the familiar telegram came this instrument

that set fire to the world of communication. sure western union was hooked and settles the golden spike in the brewer ties and the growing pains of a great nation. everybody knows that commerce. the telegraph wire tied the mark to kansas to the tables of the east. the cotton mills of new england and the southern plantations the new york cutting tables. other methods of medication were slow andit tedious. the telegraph was the only means of rapid communication. it was direct and it was fast. you kept pace with the nation's expanding frontiers. >> what is your favorite, mr.?

what's this, joe? p what's, what? what do you know, they are all blank. it would not have happened if we would have arrangedd it. there's plenty of news today but it's still the making. i don'ton mean to be personal. congratulations. did you mean to say that the twins were boys or girls sir? >> how could i have forgotten that? they are boys. >> you wanted to send a regular telegram course. >> oh sure. this is news. spinning also like to get the good news?

>> i have a lot more riding to do here. >> that won't be necessary. just put down your list and we see that they all get the message. >> as well. sure fred twins are news could western union is about to make it official. while you think of all the people who should know about alex and the twins telegrams are being sent and received in other ways in a 10 block as this area around you. ♪♪ high above the city at this executive receives a telegram by compact telegraph machine that operates by facsimilein and bris message transmission right to his desk. ♪♪ ♪♪

he places his reply on the cylinder and with the push of a button to reply goes directly to western union in his own handwriting panel to modern telegraph business at close to magic. the two stories down western union serves another man whose job demands fast and accurate communication. >> western union. mr. j. l. roberts thompkins structural steel company templeton, ohio. construction here ahead of schedule. urgent you wire immediately. the earliest arrival structural steel. while urgent words come from an engineer to his home office a steady flow boards flashes to western union from the

communications of a large business firm. a battery of teleprompters handle a massive urgent details behind the daily operations of the major business. to save time to pack more hours into the day to get on fast orderly record the many details of an enterprise. no less important is telegraph service to the smaller business whoseni need for rapid communication is well served by the familiar call box. at the turn of the handle it arrives at the branch office record on tape had the experience knows where the call originates in this passage a messenger to the 20-ton crane. all the while people come and go to the telegraph hub of the neighborhood. >> how does this sound? caught short of cash. please telegraph western union,

thanks love to all. >> thank you very much. we will do that right away and good luck. >> it's a typical day at western union. behinday the counter the mechanical nerves of the system change words to holes on tape in the holes on tape to electrical impulses speeding over the wires. here's the urgent order for the 20-ton plane. to the western union operator impersonally sending it almost endless flow words the contrast between six-pound babies and 20-ton trains passes by almost without notice. now the operator starts the program. half of the keyboard and another punch the key signals that will guide the message automatically to its destination. now it's gone already arriving

in syracuse. hi speed message center for the territory where the telegram urchin had and a link in a chain of them messages. good news travels fast in with the speed of light this news insert uses automatically being sent to st. louis the message center for the delivery office guided by the two key signals punched in new york swiftly, accurately practically nonstop. along with thousands of other telegrams coursing throughh the wires flashing around-the-clock and now over the hi speed transmitted the message appears before the operator t in st. los on perforated tape. ♪♪ as it arrives she notes the destination and with the push of

a button the words are on their way. ♪♪ here they are arriving ready. a happy group report denouncing blessings for awaiting grandparents. twins, six pounds each. they are doing fine. i think i will recover. this passage of the message byby western union and at the same time we follow the message the owner for 20-ton crane has reached its final destination in california thousands of miles farther away reached it and already delivered it. distance means nothing when it's

at the end of the telegram circuit. a sailor's request for shore leave money from dad, gone off at the same time is t telegrams about twins and 20-ton cranes delivered in maryland by western union's most modern development of modern message header and wales which receives telegrams by radio and facsimile in outlying areas. virtually at telegraph center at the doorstep. and in less time than you imagine the sailor will have the money he wants through the magic of a telegraphic money order. this is a network of interconnecting hi speed message centers linked together with a vast system from coast-to-coast and for a great major center connecting circuits directly linking thousands of towns and cities large and small. our country with this vast ultramodern automatic telegraph

system the finest of the fastest in the world. we call it speedway forwards but the speedway of sending far and wide within our shores and even beyond to any part of the globe. meanwhile a typical day continues from babies to butter. the supermarket chains wants 500 pieces of butter now at the market price, now. vinyards to take clothes and the orders sent to the automatic network. in a matterof of minutes the butter owner is on the podium exchange. 70 million housewives are concerned withn every move in this marketplace for the price tags of the nations grocery stores are determined here. 500 cases, 95. the sale goes up on the big board. over the western union circuits the transaction flushes instantly to shippers across the

lands. in every type of marketplace to bonds western union records the nations messages. wases serviced as many as possie today's was to me and reaches the american people in different ways. those in small communities may no western service through revelry stations like this were a young lady sent ava meets may telegram. the busy housewife can send a greeting or congratulations message and may call for telegraph service to simply say charge it to my phone, please. the man who wants to talk away on his telegram and get going since a reservation telegram from a convenient direct coin box cabinet. the traveler who find his day toora short short for office business telegraphs for a morning appointment calling on western union and his hotel to work for him while he rests. and here the occasional user of

telegrams living in communities away from the center of things knows the dependable local drugstore has western union's representation.rt to millions of sports fans western union is the answer to what's the score? where for the bat against the ball, wherever gridiron greats collide, wherever big-time punches fly, western union is as much a part of the sport seen as the umpires and referees. whatever the news wherever it happens western union speeds the story to its national press center serving the world's top newspapers with lightningg fast reports with deadlines. wherever disaster strikes western union is on the job to restore contact bring the wordd to andef from for the hungry and homeless.

in crises the copper wires of western union have been worth their weight in gold. of all theer many places where e western union serves the american people it's perhaps here a representative speak enough for 150 million citizens western union serves the greatest number. in the senate's pressroom correspondence biola hard record copy of speeches. as soon as that happens there on the spot facilities western union delivers this record to print pages in the free world. but there are more than outgoing stories. western gain w in washington isa frontal for which americans send supporter practice their leaders. the opinions of grassroots voters who really believe the elected man is a public service. when great issues are at stake the people speak their minds in a flood of telegrams that make total tens of thousands in a 24-hour period.

through its hi speed centers facilities western union stands ready to carry far greater traffic than the nation demands. one section of that system operates by microwave beam transmission. from towers like this in washington to more than 2000 telegrams came presented and received simultaneously on a single radio being. traveling with the speed flight or through other towers strategically located along the route. how else could this western union of today served specially designed private water systems with some indications of i'm such as a private bank wire interconnecting 188 banks and 54 cities. providing direct immediate and confidential communications for all banks of the network. here's an outstanding example of serving the nation's great industry. western union does more than

serve the individual 24 hours a day. and 65 days a year. at all times the battery of tell printers presents ati permanent record of the origin and destination of every message exchange over the private wire system. contracts, confirmations instructions purchase orders financial transactions not one detail has been left hanging in the air files in memory or left to chance. it's all in black and white. and the pentagon the brain center of america's military might the aspect of telegraphic medications conforms to the traditional demand thatd the military for reenlisting records. the army and air force is private telegraph systems to coordinate the vast organizations operated by a specially trained service personnel. there's her mind big risk mitigation centers ever designed and serviced by western union.

>> what do you read bikes they are all here, hey.re hey, what do you read? hey joe. >> hi. that's more like it. it's got news. >> it's all there now all right. things that people may and just one blank space in this edition of the paper will be filled because the story is happening right now. are reporters taking notes in the research centerer western union and what he's looking at will make the story that fulfills the last empty space in the newspapers. the stories are familiar one to western union a new one to theo reporter. it's a story of an endless

search for improved facilities to serve a communications needs of america. the new >> of the story is the findings of the search. hi speed facsimile transmissions and reception of both words and pictures in a matter of seconds. 3500 words are scented received. here's a look into the future of communications. a long way from the early keys that tracked art dots and dashes methods. here's modern telegraphy at wor sending receiving in facsimile placing all the bass system at the user's elbow. here is telegraphy today hurdling million supports across thousands of miles automatically. controlled by the brain ofc an almost infallible system.

♪♪ speeding messages to destinations with just the push of a button to better serve america everywhere, to bring distant plans and business customers within arms reach through this with this yellow bank. a long way from the old hand-to-hand relay from point to point slow slowing at the mercy of human error. here'sn the thin white ribbon f words unchangeable and accurate molding the message is lightning fast. visible transcript of the senders an actual record of what isn't said. here's telegraphy on wheels about lying districts to bring telegraph service right to the front door. the radio power and its amazing capacity of 2000 telegrams at a time on a single radio being. that's aat long way from the one telegram or one wire of a century ago.

for this telegraphs under the world headquarters of western union in new york comes a telegram, a telegram for america. western units proud of its record through the first 100 years. the record of service and progress which in the needs of today and plans for tomorrow keeps pace with the temple of the fast-moving age. >> my name is rachel olson and the director of education engagement at the national center. we are standing in front of the burlington depot in red cloud, nebraska where it arrived in 1879. later in 1882 the burlington depot became a mainline between kansas city and denver for the wellington missouri river railroad. this is also an important stop for homesteaders traveling from nebraska and the depot set up to

eight passenger trains daily. this is where anna and willie catherine 1883 or ride. we are standing in front of the jl minor house built in 1878 located just a block away from their childhood home. as a child they a lot time in the south. she was good friends with the children admired julia miner the family matrix and got to know the domestic worker emma who worked there as a teenager. she had gotten to know anna and her experiences as part of an immigrant family tried to homestead on the great plains and this friendship later inspired her most famous novel. if you walk inside the minor home you will see a parlor followed by a former -- formal dining room and you walk through there into the kitchen where

there's a small bedroom that in a state in which he was employed by the family. you would also see a hallway with a parlor to entertain guests were she played the piano. and you would also see julia and jailed minor bedroom and her office. it really developed in 20 years and would have included her childhood here so from the 1880s to the turn-of-the-century. she herself would have witnessed a town in the making so that businesses and the services that we take for granted is always available in our hometown for in our community was just in development as she grew up in the evolution of the town made a strong impression that later

came out in her riding. we are standing in front and we are about 60 miles north of red cloud in western county nebraska. this is where they raise their 10 children on this farm. this is the site where willie and anna were reunited during a visit to nebraska. serve this an inspiration for her to ride two years later and many of the beautiful things are set at this farmstead. this farmstead is far different from the dugout many homesteaders lived in the early 1880s as she did with her family. it's a great representation of the larger homesteading culture and farm life that cather

endeavor to capture in her novels.