John Gay's photo of the Ladd memorial taken
sometime in the 1980's
|
George
Solon Ladd was born in Michigan in 1841 but moved with his parents to the
mining town of Iowa Hill in California when he was 15. He worked as a telegraph
operator for the Alta Telegraph Company as a 15 year old before moving on to Sacramento,
Stockton and eventually San Francisco. Ambitious, hardworking and intelligent
he rose rapidly in the incipient telecommunications industry, initially as an
employee in the California State Telegraph Company but eventually setting up
the Electrical Construction and Maintenance Company of San Francisco, specialising
in the construction of private and commercial telegraph lines. In 1877 he
formed the American speaking Telephone Company and brought the telephone to the
West Coast. Two years later another of his ventures, the Western Electric Light
Company carried out the first tests of electric street lighting in San
Francisco. He was a prominent member of San Francisco society and despite the
heavy work commitments that undermined his health also found time for civic and
social activities. There were many obituaries in the American newspapers once the news of his death was cabled across the Atlantic but he was virtually unknown in England and his demise went completely unreported in the British press.
George Solon Ladd by Fritz Kettenburg, Reprinted from "INSULATORS - Crown Jewels of the Wire", February 1978, page 4:
http://www.cjow.com/archive/article.php?month=2&a=02George%20Solon%20Ladd.htm&year=1978
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