Episode 1 of 3

Construction Crew Activity

When: July 4, 1861 – October 1861
Where: Construction route
Part of: Western Union completes the first transcontinental telegraph

Creighton's crew began erecting poles in July 1861, planting 27,500 poles by October 1861.

The construction work involved planting 27,500 poles holding 2,000 miles of single-strand iron wire over terrain that was not always inviting. This physical effort was essential for the completion of the line.

Sources

First transcontinental telegraph Wikipedia, revision of 2025-09-21

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.