On the “New York” I made my first and only observation on the subject of electrolysis. I was required to put in a special valve to be operated by the governor. I put in a throttle valve of steam metal in a cast-iron chamber. The spindle was of steel, 2 inches diameter, and the valve was secured on it by three steel taper pins ⁵⁄₈ inch diameter at one end and ¹⁄₂ inch at the other. For some reason, what it was I have now no idea, on the return of the ship I took this valve chamber out of the pipe, and found something I was not looking for. The projecting ends of these pins, fully ¹⁄₂ inch long, had been completely eaten away in one round trip. I had to replace them with composition pins, which I always used afterwards. Directly after the success of my marine governor on the “New York” I went West to attempt its introduction on propellers running on the Great Lakes. This journey resulted in the same financial success that I had achieved at Pittsburg; but some incidents make it interesting to me. On taking my seat in a car for Albany I found my companion to be Mr. Hiram Sibley, afterwards the founder of Sibley College of the Mechanic Arts in Cornell University. When I lived in Rochester Mr. Sibley was sheriff of Monroe County, of which Rochester is the capital or shire town, and as a lawyer I was occasionally brought into some relations with him. We had not met in eleven years, but we instantly recognized each other. He was then enjoying the triumphant outcome of his amazing foresight and boldness, and he loved to talk about his experience, especially with an old Rochester man who had known his associates there. In fact, he entertained me all the way to Albany. On the first burst of enthusiasm over the invention of the telegraph, companies had been incorporated in many of the States for the establishment of lines. These companies, it was found directly, could not even pay their running expenses, because their operations were confined to their respective States. Mr. Sibley was the man for the hour. He conceived the plan of buying up the stock of all these companies, which could be got for very little, and after this had been secured incorporating a company to operate throughout the United States. It is difficult now to put ourselves back to that time, when the vastness of such a scheme would take men’s breath away. Mr. Sibley succeeded in interesting the financial men of Rochester in the enterprise, and the Western Union Telegraph Company was formed. The story of his struggles to hold his subscribers, resisting the appeals of some of them for the sake of their families to be released from their obligations, was very amusing. He was obdurate and enriched them all.