The American District Telegraph in San Francisco, incorporated 1876, bought up many of the citys carriages and consolidated them into the United Carriage Co., one of the first dispatch-oriented cab fleets anywhere. By controlling cab dispatch via telegraph, the UCC promised to reform the unruly occupation of hackdrivers. No doubt this was a great relief to new arrivals in the "wild west" who could be subject to "violence" or "extortion" from robbers upon their arrival. The system was short-lived, however, being superceeded by the telephone within a few years.
