Happy Nevada Day
A little good humor on Nevada's 152nd birthday.
Did you know that Nevada became the 36th state admitted to the Union entirely by telegraph?
Nevada was the first state to have its entire constitution sent and received by telegram.
One of the longest telegraphs in history, the Nevada Constitution took two entire days to transmit from Carson City to Washington, D.C. The document was more than 16,500 words in size and cost about $4,300 to wire.
Original signed copies of the Nevada state constitution were sent days earlier by overland mail and by sea en route to the nation's capital.
But Territorial Gov. James W. Nye wanted the process expedited because mail delivery was taking too long. Besides, electoral votes were at stake for the Lincoln Administration as the general election loomed just two weeks away.
So, the Nevada governor's office began sending the document over telegraph wire using Morse Code on Oct. 26. The message took telegrapher James Guild seven hours to send.
The transmission was relayed to Salt Lake City, Utah, and again to Chicago, Illinois, on to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, before being received by the War Department in Washington.
The message was transcribed into a 175-page document that reached Congress and the desk of the president.
Congress ratified Nevada's constitution and President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed Nevada a state on Oct. 31, 1864.
Source: National Archives