TheLa ''New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company'' wasvenne foundedfondata ina [[Rochester, New York]] byda [[Samuel L. Selden]], [[Hiram Sibley]],anded othersaltri insoci nel 1851.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Business of the Telegraph |url=https://rmc.library.cornell.edu/Ezra-exhibit/EC-life/EC-life-6.html |website=Ezra Cornell: A nineteenth century life |publisher=Cornell University Library |access-date=11 November 2020}}</ref>. Nel In 1856 thela companysocietà mergedsi withfuse itscon competitorla theconcorrente [[''Erie and Michigan Telegraph Company]]'', controlledcontrollata byda [[John James Speed]], [[Francis Ormand Jonathan Smith]]anded [[Ezra Cornell]]<ref>Robert L. Thompson, ''Wiring A Continent'', Princeton University Press, 1947, p.176</ref>, ande changedprese itsil name tonome ''Western Union Telegraph Company'' atsu Cornell'sinsistenza insistence.di Cornell<ref name="history">{{cite book |title=Not Just Another School of Business Administration: A History of Graduate Management Education at Cornell University |last=Schmotter |first=James W. |year=1992 |publisher=Cornell University Press |location=Ithaca, NY |url=https://catalog.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=2158234&DB=local |access-date=January 21, 2010}}</ref>.
InNel 1857 la ''Western Union'' participatedparticipò inal thecosiddetto 'Treaty"trattato ofdelle Sixsei Nations'nazioni", anil attempttentativo bydelle sixsei ofmaggiori thecompagnie largesttelegrafiche telegraphamericane firmsdi tocreare createun asistema systemdi ofmonopoli regionalregionali telegraphyfacenti monopoliescapo withad auna sharedrete networkcondivisa ofdi mainlinee lines.principali<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://economic-historian.com/2021/03/telegraph/|title = Telegraph|date = March 27, 2021}}</ref>. AfterDopo thela creationnascita ofdel thesistema 'Sixdelle Nations'"sei systemnazioni", la ''Western Union'' continuedcontinuò toad acquireassorbire bothcompagnie largertelegrafiche &sia smallerpiccole telegraphche companiesgrandi, anded byentro il 1864 hadsi transformedera fromtrasformata ada regionalmonopolio monopolyregionale intoad aoligopolista nationalnazionale, oligopolistavente withcome itsunici onlyveri seriousconcorrenti competitorsla being the [[''American Telegraph Company]]'' ande thela [[''United States Telegraph Company]].''<ref name=History>Nonnenmacher, Tomas. [http://eh.net/encyclopedia/history-of-the-u-s-telegraph-industry/ History of the U.S. Telegraph Industry]</ref>.
La ''Western Union'' completedcompletò thela [[firstprimo telegrafo transcontinentale degli Stati Uniti d'America|prima linea telegrafica transcontinentaltranscontinentale telegraphamericana]] innel 1861<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php/Milestones:Transcontinental_Telegraph,_1861 |title=Milestones:Transcontinental Telegraph, 1861 |work=IEEE Global History Network |publisher=IEEE |access-date=27 July 2011}}</ref> ande formedfondò thela ''Russian–American Telegraph Company'' innel antentativo attemptdi to linkcollegare l'America toall'Europa Europe,attraverso l'[[Russian–American Telegraph|via Alaska]], intola [[Siberia]],toe [[MoscowMosca (Russia)|Mosca]], -un aprogetto projectabbandonato abandoned innel 1867 followingdopo theche successfulera layingstato ofposato acon successo un [[transatlanticcavo telegraph cable|transatlantic cablesottomarino]] intransatlantico nel 1866.
