On October 24, 1861, the first transcontinental telegraph message was transmitted to the California State Telegraph Company’s office at J and 3rd Streets in Sacramento. The Overland Pony Express Company mail service 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 Ca