Adventures in Electricity

Part 2

"So your Great Great Grandpa Benjamin listened to the same story you had throughout his childhood." Grandpa tickled me on my side and I tried squirm away in my bed making me laugh, but he quickly stopped and got back to the story. "His father would bring him to see railways being built across the state of Pennsylvania and Maryland. He was fascinated with how trains operate and spent all his spare time collecting as much information as he could about the trains. Your Great Great Great Grandpa was thrilled by his enthusiasm and the two of them would often go and watch trains together. As the years went by, both of their passions for trains grew."

"I love trains too!" I declared loudly to Grandpa and he gave me a big smile, ruffling my hair before carrying on.

"There were a lot of congestion and collision problems with the trains at the time, and Benjamin wanted to help make that better. As he combed the newspaper for news, he found out about the new invention called the electric telegraph and knew that it would be the answer to everything. Do you remember what a telegraph is?"

"Morse code!" I answered, tapping my fingers on my covers. "They send it through wires connecting to the other side and then they message is read!"

"Very good. So with his father's support, he began to embark on his journey to contribute to the railways of America. However, instead of engines and rails, he was more interested in finding a way to allow the train to communicate better.

He did very well in public school and went on to study at New York University, specializing in chemistry and later Electromagnetics. He studied under Professor Leonard Gale, who played an important part in helping Samuel Morse in developing the electric telegraph that was still in the midst of getting a patent and sponsorship. He realized that it was exactly what the rail industry needed to run the trains smoothly and begged Leonard to introduce him to Morse." Grandpa then opened a less ancient but still crumbled looking notebook and I edged higher onto my pillow, trying to get a glimpse of the words myself.

"I begged Professor Gale to introduce me to Mr. Morse, but he was still in Europe looking for sponsorships. But I think it is fate that I met Alfred Vail first, an inspirational man who taught me everything I knew about the telegraph. I had not a clue why no one was paying any attention to this ground breaking invention, where a message could be transferred from one place to another almost instantaneously. I wasn't surprised when Mr. Morse finally got funding from Congress in 1844. Alfred and I had discussed the merits and mutual benefits electric telegraph would have with railways and whether it was coincidence or not. I was thrilled when they began building the experimental line along the Baltimore and Ohio rail."

"We went on that last week." I gushed, remembering the massive station in New York and how awesome the ride was. Grandpa didn't come with us, but Dad said he had been there many times before anyway, and that my Great Grand-Aunty had helped her husband build the station. I don't know how a lady would carry stones around, but good for her! Grandpa gave me a be-quiet look before continuing on with the story.

"Father was a bit confused about how some wires could contribute to railways, so I brought him along to the Whig Party's convention in Baltimore on May 1st, 1844. It was a grand event, where the nomination for U.S. President from the party would be announced. Father was beyond excited to be there, his hands were shaking and he constantly asked me whether or not we should even be here.

'Don't worry, Father.' I told him, steering him towards the backstage a

rea where all the magic happened and introduced him to Mr. Morse and Alfred. Mr. Morse, understandably, was focused on setting up the machinery, but Alfred was happy to spare some attention to us and explain the details to my Father. I knew that everything was too technical for him to understand, but I could tell that Father was more than impressed by the science in front of him. He even went as far as trying to trace the wire along the ground, trying to gauge where they ran.