The Pony Express, a mail service that became the most direct means of long-distance communication across the United States before the first transcontinental telegraph, began operation.

The Pony Express was an American express mail service that used relays of horse-mounted riders between Missouri and California. It was operated by the Central Overland California and Pikes Peak Express Company.

The first transcontinental telegraph was a line that connected the existing telegraph network in the eastern United States to a small network in California, by means of a link between Omaha, Nebraska and Carson City, Nevada, via Salt Lake City. It was a milestone in electrical engineering and in the formation of the United States. It served as the only method of near-instantaneous communication between the east and west coasts during the 1860s. For comparison, in 1841, it took 110 days for news of the death of President William Henry Harrison to reach Los Angeles.