Identifier: belltelephonemag19amerrich (find matches)
Title: Bell telephone magazine
Year: 1922 (1920s)
Authors: American Telephone and Telegraph Company American Telephone and Telegraph Company. Information Dept
Subjects: Telephone
Publisher: (New York, American Telephone and Telegraph Co., etc.)
Contributing Library: Prelinger Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Internet Archive

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by canoes and onmuleback. Later, the Panama Rail-road was built, and a contract madewith it in 1851 for compensation atthe rate of twenty-two cents a pound.In April, 1857, the contract was modi-fied to an annual compensation of$100,000. The First Pacific Mail Steamers 1 HE first steamers, in 1849, carriedabout 6,000 letters, and a large vol-ume of newspaper mail, on each trip.In 1850, about 50,000 letters was themonthly average. In July, 1852,they reached what is said to have beenthe monthly high of 60,000 letters.The arrival of the mail steamers inCalifornia was hailed with enthusiasmby the inhabitants, and newspapersfrom the east (although weeks old)brought prices which could have beenpaid only in a land where gold wascheap. The first rate of postage to the Pa-cific, provided by an act of March 3,1847, was forty cents for single let-ters. General reductions in the postalrate went into effect in 1851, and therate to California was reduced to six i 9^0 The Conquest of a Continent 203
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A fAfTHfUL REPSrStNIATtON Of THE CHCWDS OAJLT APPtyiMC AT TKATOfFICE TOR LETTERS AND NEWSPAPERS WAITING FOR MAIL IN SAN FRANCISCO This old picture shows a crowd before the post office about the year 18^9. Mail from the East was carried by steamer from New York to Chagres, across the Isthmus of Panama by canoe and mule-back (later by railroad), and again by steamer to San Francisco i cents. This was raised to ten centsI in 1855 and remained at that figurej until 1863. j 1 HE mails which were carried to1 and from the Pacific coast by way ofI Panama were usually about a monthin transit. In February, 1858, whatseems to have been a record between New York and San Francisco was es-( tablished when the steamer GoldenAge reached the latter city with mails( that had left the dock in New Yorktwenty-one days, two hours and thir-teen minutes before. This reallyi commendable speed record compares most favorably with the best that wascredited to the next form of commu-nication across the continentâ

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