Show ALASKAN IIISTOKY SOMETHING ABOUT THE WESTERN UNION RUSSIAN EXTENSION The Dajs hen TransOceanic Telegraphy Teleg-raphy Was Yet an Experiment Some Inside History About the Purchase of Alaska Special Correspondence ROCHESTER N Y May 18 Au investigation of the rumor widely afloat in the newspapers that Alaska for which the Unit States government paid 7200000 in 18C7 might have been bought by Hiram Sibley president of the Western Union Russian Extension for 750000 in 1SGG brings to light an interesting chapter in the history of Alaska and of the magnetic telegraph The early summer of 1866 sa w the two great enterprises of telegraphy the Atlantic cable and the Russian overland tcle cble Ruia oeland telegraph running n race a it were for the earths magnetic girdle The Atlantic Cable ginle Atatic company com-pany after four disastrous efforts and the loss of two cables and millions of dollars to say nothing of public confidence in long submarines was stowing away in tho capacious capa-cious hold of tho Great Eastern the gigantic ggantic coils of another cntum Atlantic stock could b bought for a song and the song of the seller was joy at getting rid of it at a Russian stock was booming and i demand at from 3 t G per cent above par The world believed in the grand international Western Union extension by which the extenon telegraphic systems of Russia and the United States were to b unit via Behring straits at the mouth of the Amoor the Pacific port of Siberia Si-beria br Overtures for the purchase of the rights of the RussianAmerican Fur company in the interest of the Russian overland or Collins line u it was commonly called had been made to that venerable monopoly and autoc racy of Alaska by M Collins the originator of the line and by our ministerat the Court of St Petersburg Hon Cassius M Clay The consent of the Russian government would have to b obtained before I transfer of the rights of the RussianAmerican Fur company could b made and something more than the word and bond of a private citizen like Mr Collins would b required This was before the Western Union had adopted the project which had reached the point where capital pluck and executive ability were demanded de-manded Collins naturally looked toHiiam Sibley the motive power in the federation of the Western Union and the building of the Pacific telegraph Mr Sibley gave hearty indorsement to the scheme and tho contract between the Western Union and Collins was signed in Rochester N Y May 218 The China branch line was to b one of the many impoi tant evolutions of the Russian CKerland the one making the acquisition of the rights of the RussianAmerican Fur right RusinnAmecan company com-pany desiiable if not imperative To negotiate ate for these rights and to secure in the contract con-tract to b signed between the Russian government gov-ernment and the Western Union l correct interpretation of certain clauses Sibley and Collins went to St Petersburg in the wit tel of 1S011865 Mr Sibley carried with him an important paper I was a statement of the financial condition of the Western Union company and its relation t the Russian Extension signed by the president and secretary secre-tary of tho Western Union Russian Extension Exten-sion with a certificate of indorsement signed by the governor of the state of New York to which were appended letters confirmatory from the leading banker of the city of Isew York vouching for the undoubted undoubt responsibility responsi-bility and liability not only of the Western Union Russian Extension but of it president individually the bearer of the letter Upon this paper Mr Sibley obtained in London a letter of credit for 750000 with which and his credentials ho was amply prepared for any emergency He was seeking the accomplishment of two objects First a satisfactory contract between tween the Russian telegraph department Did the Western Union Second a perpetual lease for the route of the telegraph through the territory of theRussianAmerican company com-pany He gained a he sought in the contract The other matter seemed far easier of solution solu-tion for the rights of the Russian Fur company com-pany were in tho market The financial troubles of the great monopoly were no secret cret There were complications between the Russian Fur company and the Hudson Bay company It looked as if the former might sell out to the latter and so place England virtually in possession of Alaska n state of things Russia did not like t contemplate and yet Russia did not want t assume the protection of trade and commerce in Alaska a she must i the affairs of the Russian Fur company were transferred t tho government govern-ment The Alaska problem was n vexation t Russia That tho great telegraph project would finally solve that problem was believed in financial circles by those who had no certain cer-tain knowledge that overtures tending to such a solution had been made by either party Hiram Sibley writes Cassius M Clay our minister t the court of St Petersburg at the tie was the first t talk of buying apart a-part of Alaska for the placing and management manage-ment of the telegraph line and plant Under h instructions I was sounding the Russian government The Western Union Russian extension was first in suggesting to the Russian Rus-sian government the sale of the province of Alaska and I pressed upon Mr Sibley the possession ofthe land for telegraph purposes in perpetuity When Mr Sibley was approached upon the subject of buying up the rights of the Russian American company he quietly set about ascertaining certaining the exact condition of the com panys financial affairs and the result of 0 thorough investigation a t convince him that the concern was verging on bankruptcy that the catch was declining and that it rights were within easy reach of the Western Union UnionWhy pay 750000 for the rights of the RussianAmerican company asked Prince Gortschakoff of Mr Sibley when for that sum you can get the fe simple to the tract you want The contemplated track was 0 strip extending extend-ing from the coast inland from 150 to 3 miles the plum of the Alaska pudding 4 Aug 2018C6 the Atlantic cable proved a success In the worldwide enthusiasm over its operation the Russian Overland was forgotten for-gotten by the public The first message by cable was the death blow of the Overland The work was abandoned at once by the Western Union although many of the telegraph tele-graph boys of the expedition did not hear of the success of the rival enterprise for more had been working satisfactorily than 0 year after it b vorlg sti factorily They had gone on digging holes for the telegraph in the frozen ground of the arctic regions dragging poles on reindeer sledges and suffering untold hardships believing lieving that tha world was watching the progress of their labor with impatience little dreaming they were but storing up firewood for the wild Chookchees and digging dangerous danger-ous pitholes for the poor Esquimaux JAXE MARSH PARKER |