If I opened an account at, say, Wells Fargo in San Francisco in 1860, then sailed down to Los Angeles and wanted to withdraw money, how did the bank know how much I had in my account?
And the same question going back further, like with the Knights Templar.
In: 5
Well for that initial part Wells Fargo would have really wanted the ability to communicate between their SF and LA offices by telegraph to verify your account details, which would have been expensive enough that perhaps they’d only bother if you were withdrawing a large sum.
Oh, initially I wasn’t sure if it would be possible in 1860 or not — 7 years after the first telegraph line in California and 1 year before the transcontinental connection was completed. But turns out I found a cite: [if you sailed down to LA after October 16th that year it would have just become possible!](https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=DAC18601016.2.4&e=——-en–20–1–txt-txIN——–1)
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