America was on the verge of civil war and needed a reliable connection between the North and South. On the telegraph market of the USA at this time were operated with six large companies: American Telegraph Company, New York Albany and Buffalo Electro-Magnetic Telegraph Company, Atlantic and Ohio Telegraph, Illinois & Mississippi Telegraph Company, New Orleans & Ohio Telegraph Company, and the brainchild of Sibley & Co. - The Western Union Telegraph. 1980 - for the first time in the history of Western Union revenues from money transfers exceeded the income from the telegraph service. In order to increase competitiveness and market expansion of its services, Western Union launched a program of loyalty Western Union Gold Card for customers, who has repeatedly made money transfers via Western Union. July 3, 1884 the company's shares were included in the calculation base for the newly created stock index Dow Jones Transportation Average. One of the common kinds of money transfer is a transfer via the international system of Western Union. In 2000 was launched the Web site westernunion.com, with which users from certain countries can independently transfer funds online.