to place; but as the development of commerce made speed an essential part, greater effort was expended to increase the rate at which ideas were transmitted (Croal62). The search for rapid transport of information led to the formation of the pony express in 1860 (Cozic 77). Although the pony express required several weeks to carry mail from the East Coast to the West Coast, it was a vast improvement over the earlier methods. The pony express was not the only time humans teamed up with animals to attempt to improve communications. Dogs and pigeons were used to carry messages, especially during wartime . Most, if not all, of the early forms of communication had two significant problems. Both the speed at which information could be effectively communicated and the distance over which information could be sent were severely limited. With the advancements in forms of electronic communication, these problems were solved. It was even before the pony express that a true technological breakthrough was made. In 1844, the first electronic transmission occurred when Samuel Morse developed a system of dots and dashes to symbolize letters of the alphabet. A transmission device called the telegraph was used to send the coded signals over wires. The telegraph was to become the primary method of reliable and rapid communication during the American Civil War . It took quite a few years to link the major cities of America by telegraph wires, but by 1861 the pony express had been replaced. Telegraphic communication became a major part of America's business and military history. One of the early telegraph companies, Western Union, became the dominant carrier. Today, Western Union, through the use of modern technology, transmits information twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Actual voice communication over distance finally became possible in 1876 when Alexander Graham Bell held the first telephone conversation with his assistant, Thomas Watson.