Before the 1880s had passed, Osgood would relocate to Colorado and expand his interests to the point that he generally is recognized as one of the "robber barons" who butted heads with the likes of John D. Rockefeller and Jay Gould over control of the nation's coal industry.
But all he wanted to do in late March 1880 was decide whether to hop a train at Cleveland eastbound to home base in Burlington or westbound to Colorado, where he was beginning to explore that state's coal resources.
He relied upon the latest in communications infrastructure to help him make the decision --- and that resulted in a short story in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye of April 1 celebrating that marvels of modern technology. Only 14 minutes had been needed to send a message and receive a reply across the eastern half of the south of Iowa. Imagine that. Here's the story:
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Here is a good word for the telephone system. A few days ago, J.C. Osgood was at the Whitebreast Coal Mining company's office at Cleveland, Iowa, and had just nineteen minutes left in which to decide whether he should come to Burlington or go in another direction. He telephoned to Lucas, a distance of two and a half miles. From here, the message was sent to this city by telegraph. The company here then rang up central station and sent the message to West Hill, received an answer, sent it back to Lucas from where the message was sent back to Cleveland. This occupied but fourteen minutes, and reached Mr. Osgood in time to permit him to decide.
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Dozens of eastbound and westbound trains still pass alongside the site of the former Cleveland depot these days, but none stop. You can, however, park on the gravel road paralleling the tracks, pull out your cellphone and within seconds be in touch with any place in the world. Mr. Osgood would be amazed.
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