Wired into Nature

The Telegraph and the North American Frontier

Bibliographic Data

ID4156941
AuthorsCarrie A Meyer (0009-0001-5295-2033, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, corresponding author)
Year2019
Volume105
Issue4
Pages1009-1010
Publication date2019-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of American History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0021-8723 • E-ISSN: 1945-2314
PublisherOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/jahist/jaz051
OpenAlexW2916897384
LanguageEN
Citations received8

In the latter half of the nineteenth century, the telegraph made its way across western North America as the frontier was being explored and Native Americans were fighting for their lands. While many historical narratives of the telegraph in North America focus on the experience in the East, highlighting invention, innovation, and manufacturing, James Schwoch's Wired into Nature examines the extension of the telegraph into the challenging landscapes and ecosystems of the West. The book is broad-ranging and based on detailed archival research and analysis. The author tells stories of the trials of extending telegraph lines across the Great Plains—the threats from bison knocking over poles, from passenger pigeons alighting in groups on wires, and from conflicts with Native Americans. He recounts how the Western Union Company completed the first transcontinental telegraph in October 1861, connecting the Eastern Seaboard to California by enlisting the help of the Mormons in Salt Lake City. He chronicles the synergistic expansion of the telegraph with the railroads across western North America and ponders the challenges to masculinity inherent in the quest to link North America and Asia by traversing the Bering Strait. He explores the critical role of the military in building and maintaining telegraph systems, and discusses the issues of surveillance and national security. He explores the pivotal role of the Civil War in the relationship between the military and corporations in the development of this information technology deployed for the war effort. He investigates the extension of the telegraph into the Southwest and its role in establishing a secure border to the south. Schwoch also examines the personalities of at least a dozen men who played decisive roles in the western expansion of the telegraph. The book also includes a wonderful collection of approximately thirty-seven sketches, photographs, and maps gathered from a wide variety of sources

Archaeology · Economic history · Frontier · Geography · Spanish Civil War · American Environmental and Regional History · Archaeology and Natural History · History

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub