1857 Set up a chemical laboratory in the cellar of his home.
Edison became news boy
1859 Became a newsboy and "candy butcher" on the trains of the Grand Trunk Railway, running between Port Huron and Detroit.
Edison printed the weekly herald
1862 Printed and published "The Weekly Herald," the first newspaper ever to be typeset and printed on a moving train. The London Times features a story on him and his paper, giving him his first exposure to international notoriety.
Saved - from otherwise certain death in a train accident
1862 Saved - from otherwise certain death in a train accident - the young son of J. U. Mackenzie, station agent at Mount Clemens, Mich. In gratitude, the child's father taught him telegraphy.
Strung a telegraph line from the Port Huron railway station to Port Huron village
1862 Strung a telegraph line from the Port Huron railway station to Port Huron village and worked in the local telegraph office.
Obtained his first position as a regular telegraph operator on the Grand Trunk Railway.
1863 Obtained his first position as a regular telegraph operator on the Grand Trunk Railway at Stratford Junction, Canada. Later, is resigned by them to help develop a duplex system of telegraphy
Spent nearly five years as a telegraph "tramp operator" in various cities of the Central Western states
1863-1868 Spent nearly five years as a telegraph "tramp operator" in various cities of the Central Western states, always experimenting with ways to improve the apparatus.
