The landline telegraph was, in its day, the fastest and most dependable mode of communication available. Used by companies like Western Union for sending messages known as telegrams over long distances, it became a large and profitable business, especially for urgent matters. The newspapers also made use of this rapid method of disseminating their breaking news stories across the continent in a matter of minutes, where prior to its use news traveled very slowly, taking days to reach distant locations.
Telegraph offices were located mostly in railroad depots in every town along the tracks. At its inception, the railroads were the primary providers and users of this communication system, using it in their daily operations as stations’ telegraph operators provided instructions to train crews at outlying points. The operators also would telegraph the arrival and departure of the trains at that station to a dispatcher, providing him with the information he needed to arrange meeting points between opposing trains.
With the advent of the landline telephone system, the telegraph became less and less required as a speedy method for transmitting messages for the public, but was still relied upon heavily by newswire services, railroads and even for large operations occupying several floors in the same building, such as stock exchanges. These businesses used a closed circuit telegraph system within the building they occupied.
Gradually, the system morphed into landline teletype, which did not require a person skilled in sending and receiving Morse code. The receiving teletype machine operated largely unmanned and provided printed copies of the information it received. In many instances the incoming information could be left on the machine until it was needed.
However, the railroads continued to use all three methods – telegraph, telephone and teletype – to serve their various needs. As late as the 1960s, a few railroads were still using the landline telegraph for train dispatching, using Morse telegraph operators.
When I returned from military service in the mid 1960s, telegraphy was taking its last gasp on the railroads. The telegraph lines were still up and operating, but mostly used between operators on the same district for short communications, such as car reports or reporting the passing of a train to the next station. Landline teletype machines were then used for sending train manifests to the yards and terminals requiring that information. As the wires and power supplies began to fail they were not repaired and the telegraph instruments began to vanish from the depots.
During my freshman year in high school, the Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad (C&EI) still relied on the telegraph for train dispatching. It was there that I learned the dying occupation of landline telegrapher. The first time I saw the agent at work sending and receiving telegraph messages, I was impressed with the proficiency and speed of the exchanges. He was able to listen to the telegraph instrument, translate the code mentally, copy the messages on a manual typewriter and carry on a conversation with me simultaneously. Merely being impressed might be an understatement. With that skill learned, at a low level of accomplishment I’ll quickly add, I knew that was the job for me. However, by the time I was old enough to seek employment, telegraphy wasn’t a requirement.
The next form of telegraphy to bite the dust was Radio Telegraphy. International Morse code was used by the military and amateur radio enthusiasts, because it was more dependable for getting through adverse weather conditions or deliberate jamming attempts. A weak CW (continuous wave) signal could be heard through static much better than a distorted voice signal. Now, the military no longer teaches this mode of radio communication and it is no longer required to obtain an Amateur Radio License. Passing a 20-word-per-minute proficiency test in receiving was required when I received my Extra Class License, but the Army only required proficiency at 18 wpm to graduate from their radio school in Ft. Dix, N.J.
These modes are not completely dead yet, but in another generation they will be. They stay alive now, because those of us who still possess some degree of proficiency are living and using the codes in club settings and ham radio. Nevertheless, the skill is no longer taught and no longer required in any occupation. It seems doomed to be relegated to the scrap heap of antiquities and become an extinct form of communicating much like smoke signals.
Jerry Ginther grew up in Sullivan IL and now resides in Texas. He has a degree in Christian Ministry and is the author of "Acquiring the Benefits of Biblical Wisdom," available in e‑book format on Amazon.com.