[…] JeSais noted the end of the telegraph a few posts back, which made me interested in when San Diego got a line to be able to send those telegrams. According to the San Diego Historical Society website, it was 1870. The year 1870 opened with business brisk and real estate act­ive. In March, four weeks’ sales aggregated over $50,000. One of the most encouraging features was the opening of telegraphic communications with the outside world. The need for this con­venience had been debated in the newspapers for some months. In the spring, the agents of the Western Union Telegraph Com­pany came and raised by canvass a subscription of $8,000, the amount of the subsidy required. The largest givers were Horton, Morse, San Diego Union, and J. S. Mannasse & Co. The whole sum was given by twenty-three individuals and firms. Work was begun upon the line immediately. The poles were distributed from a steamer, being floated from the vessel to the shore—a dangerous service, performed by Captain S. S. Dun­nells. The line was completed and the first dispatches sent, on August 19, 1870. The event caused much rejoicing. […]