--- Dashes & dots ··· the modernization of Iceland by telegraphy

In 1904 Iceland, colonized by Denmark since the late middle ages, gained home-rule.

Icelandic politician and poet, Hannes Hafstein, was appointed to the Danish Cabinet as the Minister for Iceland.

One of his first projects was to instigate the connection of Iceland to the international telegraph network with a submarine cable and construct a landline between Seyðisfjörður in East-Iceland and the capital, Reykjavík in the south.

Norwegian engineer, Olav Forberg, was hired to manage the difficult task of putting up the telephone poles and lines.

In the summer of 1905 Forberg traveled all around Iceland to determine the best location for the lines.

This photograph was taken on Fjarðarheiði, the mountain pass between Seyðisfjörður and Egilsstaðir.

If the cable was damaged it had to be repaired by a cable ship.

Then the cable houses at both ends of the cable were manned around the clock by telegraphists that could supply technical information from instrument readings.

So the cable house also had a bed, a telephone and a stove for the staff member on duty.

The Cable House, near to the cable's landing place, sheltered accurate instruments to monitor and tune the cable.

A landline was constructed between Seydisfjordur and the Icelandic capitol, Reykjavík.

The wires had to be strung a distance of 614 km. In a country with almost no roads at the time, the project is often called the greatest feat of engineering in Icelandic history.

To help complete the monumental task of erecting 14,000 telegraph poles in three months more than 200 Norwegians, common workers and executives, came to Iceland to install the telephone lines and poles.

The telegraph service was inaugurated on August 25th, 1906 and Iceland was finally capable of telecommunications with other countries.

Iceland Minister, Hannes Hafstein intended to be at the inauguration ceremony and send the first telegram to the king in Copenhagen.

But he was delayed due to bad weather. The sheriff of Seyðisfjörður, Jóhannes Jóhannesson, instead sent the first telegram.

The opening of the telegraph cable was a major event in the history of Iceland, which deserved a splendid feast.

Just over a month later, telegraph and telephone lines connected Seyðisfjörður to the capital of Iceland, Reykjavík.

Transcripts of the first telegrams to and from Iceland in August 1906.

Pioneering modernity, they launched a new occupation at the Seydisfjordur telegraph station in 1906.

Halldor Skaptason, Dagmar Wathne, Borghild Hansen and Björn Magnusson.

Stick punch, receiver, morse key and transmitter on Iceland's first telegraph table.

The machines were driven by weighted clockwork.

Used to punch holes in tape for automated telegraph transmission.

Automatic transmitters for sending messages punched on paper tape were developed by Charles Wheatstone.

These were often used on sub-marine cables.

This one was produced by the Great Northern Telegraph Company and used in Seydisfjordur.

Wheatstone receivers were used to transcribe Morse code signals.

An ink pen marked a moving strip of paper.

The telephone brought a new form of instant communication over long distances. When the "kiosk" idea was introduced in Icelandic towns around 1900, small shops soon became centers for social interaction and of course had to have, besides necessities, refreshments and postcards - a telephone booth.

Those that didn't have telephones in their house could use the telephone booth in the town's kiosk.

"This is a great day with me. I feel that I have at last struck the solution of a great problem — and the day is coming when telegraph wires will be laid on to houses just like water or gas — and friends converse with each other without leaving home."

- From a letter by Alexander Graham Bell to his father in 1876.

The new technology opened up many previously unknown job opportunities for young people.

Emil Jónasson (born 1889) describes the job of a telegraphist in his article Gentlemen-like Behaviour and Telegraphing in Seyðisfjörður:

"It was considered a good position if one was a telegraphist.

And Seyðisfjörður was a fancy place where good manners were thought to be of high importance.

I used to talk respectfully to women my age, lifted my hat for all women I crossed in the street, as well as for those men who wore a hat!

It was fun to be a young telegraphist in those days. Telegraphists were considered to be upper class."

Like all technology, telegraphy evolved as time followed its path.

As electricity came to power machines the old wind-up devices became outdated, and alongside emerging wireless technology for long distance communication, the telegraph machines were powered by electrical motors invented by Tesla under the light produced by Edison's light bulbs.

This table is from around 1930.