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281
Heroes of the Telegraph
·
John Munro
57
The
success
of
the
overland
wire
induced
the
Company
to
embark
on
a
still
greater
scheme,
the
project
of
Mr.
Perry
MacDonough
Collins,
for
a
trunk
line
between
America
and
Europe
by
way
of
British
Columbia,
Alaska,
the
Aleutian
Islands,
and
Siberia.
A
line
already
existed
between
European
Russia
and
Irkutsk,
in
Siberia,
and
it
was
to
be
extended
to
the
mouth
of
the
Amoor,
where
the
American
lines
were
to
join
it.
Two
cables,
one
across
Behring
Sea
and
another
across
the
Bay
of
Anadyr,
were
to
link
the
two
continents.
The
expedition
started
in
the
summer
of
1865
with
a
fleet
of
about
thirty
vessels,
carrying
telegraph
and
other
stores.
In
spite
of
severe
hardships,
a
considerable
part
of
the
line
had
been
erected
when
the
successful
completion
of
the
trans-Atlantic
cable,
in
1866,
caused
the
enterprise
to
be
abandoned
after
an
expenditure
of
3,000,000
dollars.
A
trace
cut
for
the
line
through
the
forests
of
British
Columbia
is
still
known
as
the
'telegraph
trail.'
In
spite
of
this
misfortune
the
Western
Union
Telegraph
Company
has
continued
to
flourish.
In
1883
its
capital
amounted
to
80,000,000
dollars,
and
it
now
possesses
a
virtual
monopoly
of
telegraphic
communication
in
the
United
States.
Morse
did
not
limit
his
connections
to
land
telegraphy.
In
1854,
when
Mr.
Cyrus
Field
brought
out
the
Atlantic
Telegraph
Company,
to
lay
a
cable
between
Europe
and
America,
he
became
its
electrician,
and
went
to
England
for
the
purpose
of
consulting
with
the
English
engineers
on
the
execution
of
the
project.
But
his
instrument
was
never
used
on
the
ocean
lines,
and,
indeed,
it
was
not
adapted
for
them.
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