On October 24, 1861, the first transcontinental telegraph message was transmitted to the California State Telegraph Company’s office at 3rd and J Streets in Sacramento, California. The Overland Pony Express Company mail service , which was only in operation for 18 months, ceased operations just two days later. Construction of the telegraph line began in July 1861 in Missouri. The nearly half a million dollar project was largely made possible by the passage of the Telegraph Act of 1860. The telegraph made Sacramento the hub for communication between California and the eastern United States. Copy of a lithograph of a Pony Express rider traveling along the construction of the telegraph line reproduced from a painting by George M. Ottinger in Harper’s Weekly November 1867 edition. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress. #OnThisDay #todayinhistory #oldsacramento #ponyexpress #sachistorymuseum