Life of Jay Gould (Volume P78-1086); How He Made His Millions

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated.1892 Excerpt: ... CHAPTER XII. Mr. Gould's Greatest Enterprise. IN the later years of Mr. Gould's life his attention was more especially turned toward the telegraph, for he recognized that it was becoming as important to the country and was as rich a field for cultivation as the railroads had been in the days when his attention had been entirely directed to them. It is therefore fitting that the last chapter of this volume should contain somewhat of a history of the evolution of the telegraph in general, and of the Western Union Telegraph Company in particular. The first thought of the bon vivant as his eye twinkles through a fresh sample of his favorite wine, which with dexterous thumb and finger he holds up to the sunlight is how old are you? Where grew the grapes that made you? And he is but a type of an age that seems bent on tracing all things to their origin, of hunting them backward to their primal nest. The more remote the seed, the further removed and dimmer the dawn, the deeper and more pervading is the fascination. The telegraph has had just such a scrutiny. It has even been suggested that its origin was in Eden on some such a far-fetched argument as this. The word which in France expresses the Eng/ li term magnetism isaimentation, from the w rd ainer to love. Of course, we are told in the F ook of Books that there was love in Eden, and the j, ersistent arguer thinks that he can trace the telegraph back by this means. So far as we have any knowledge, the earliest method of signalling, all of which have come to be classed in with the general term, telegraph, were of a very simple character. Among savage tribes, and indeed largely among civilized nations, these signals were by fires. As civilization advanced, torches, flags, birds, drums, trumpets, and other...