TELEGRAPH, ELECTRIC. 



723 



The International, or Rutso- American Line. 

 An ;uv.'Uiit nl' tin- inception (if this > 



iiii-linliii^ notice of the original granH, 



of the a>suiii[ti(>ii in 1864 of the work by tho 



torn Union Telegraph 



. " iiinlor tho name of the "Western 



n-ioii," and to some extent of tin; 



outi', will be found in tho volume of 



KOIA for 1864. 



:lst of August, in tho year named, 



: Una! formation of a company 



for the purpose in question, its president being 



at tho time Mr. Hiram Sibley, and Mr. 0. II. 



Palmar being then, and still, pecretary, was 



.:el at Rochester, N". Y. The company is 



i ted to bo organized under tho laws 



of tlio State, its corporate rights having been 



I April 1, 1851, for a period of one hun- 

 dred years. A special "extension stock" was 



.1 of 100,000 shares of $100 each, a por- 

 tion of this, sufficient to cover tho expense of 

 active operations, being subscribed for and paid 

 in. 



On tho 2d of February and 25th of May, 

 1865, the sanction of the Emperor of Russia 

 was accorded to the " Collection of Laws and 

 Regulations of the Imperial Russian Govern- 

 ment," relating to the construction and main- 

 tenance of the telegraph line through the do- 

 minions and dependencies of that power in 

 Eastern Asia and Western North America. 

 Among the privileges granted by tho govern- 

 ment are, the rights to construct and maintain 

 a telegraph line from tho city of Nicolaicvsk (or 

 Niiolavsky), at the mouth of the Ainoor River, 

 through the maritime district of Bearing's 

 Strait, and thence through Russian-American 

 possessions to a junction with tho American 

 telegraphs ; to work this line for a period of 

 thirty-three years from the time of its opening 

 to the public the terms of tho grants from 

 foreign powers being all, in this respect, closely 

 Similar; to occupy and hold for the time (with- 

 out acquiring permanent possession, or author- 

 ity over tho inhabitants), such lauds as required 

 for tho maintenance of stations, guard-houses, 

 etc., and to have tho use of such timber as may 

 be needed for tho work ; and until the end of 

 three years after its conclusion to import mate- 

 rials, tools, provisions, etc., through Russian- 

 Asiatic ports, free of duty. The government, 

 at the same time, engages to complete, and 

 within the period specified for the company, 

 the link of telegraph still required inland, that, 

 namely, from Verchne-Udinsk the then east- 

 ern terminus of the Russian lines for 1,800 

 miles, to Ilabarovka, to. which point a line was 

 already in operation up tho Amoor, six hundred 

 miles from Nicolaievsk; and, in order further 

 to encourage tho enterprise, to grant from tho 

 date of the completion of tho line an allowance 

 of forty per cent, on the net produce of dispatches 

 coming from the Russian lines, to and from 

 America, and based on an estimate to be mado 

 yearly of the relation of not produce to gross 

 income of lines within the empire itself; while 



among tho conditions, more strictly so called, 

 imposed by the government, are, that its dis- 

 patches, at stations within its own dominions, 

 shall have precedence in time over private mes- 

 sages; that tho company shall complete tho 

 work (unless in case of extraordinary impedi- 

 ments) within five years; and shall forfeit tho 

 grant and rights, and of course the allowance 

 of forty per cent., if the work be not so com- 

 pleted, or if, after any stoppage of working of 

 the lino, its operation (save in case of hinderanco 

 by insurrection or war) shall not be reestab- 

 lished within one and one-half years. 



A confirmation of the imperial grant, and of 

 the determination to render all possible aid in 

 carrying it into effect, is conveyed in a com- 

 munication to tho American Company from 

 Count Tolstoy, Minister of Posts and Tele- 

 graphs for the empire, October 6. 1865. 



Of the Western Union Extension Company, 

 Mr. J. II. Wade was, in 1865, elected president. 

 Upon the recommendation of Colonel Charles 

 S. Bulklcy, engineer-in-chief of the work of ex- 

 ploration and construction of the interconti- 

 nental line, the members of the expedition 

 have been organized into a land and marine 

 service, similar to those of the United States, 

 and with similar official grades and disci- 

 pline; and the entire service being also "uni- 

 formed," the effect was found to be not only 

 conducive to order, but also to a favorable 

 impression on the natives of the regions trav- 

 ersed. 



Of tho general land service, Colonel Frank 

 N. Wicker was made chief, the like relation to 

 the American division being intrusted to Cap- 

 tain Edmund Conway, and in the Asiatic to 

 Major Serge Abasa, a Russian nobleman, some 

 time a resident of Rochester, and well informed 

 in respect to the people, languages, and cus- 

 toms of Eastern Siberia. The marine service 

 was placed under charge of Captain C. M. 

 Scammon, of the flag-ship Nightingale. Several 

 other vessels were employed in tho work of 

 tho expedition, these being generally, and. per- 

 haps with tho sole exceptions of the Wright 

 and Rutgers, loaded with telegraph wire, etc., 

 ami with supplies a part of them at San Fran- 

 cisco, and others at Victoria, with portions of 

 the wire sent from England. Four vessels had 

 in 1865, and the early part of 1866, sailed from 

 England, having on board some 5,000 miles of 

 wire, tho required length of cable, machinery, 

 etc., and being destined for ports in the North 

 Paeific. The Russian Telegraph Department 

 had also forwarded from Hamburg materials 

 for the Amoor Junction line. The Secretary 

 of the Navy, furthermore, under an act of Con- 

 gress, detailed the United States steamer Sag- 

 inaw, and the Russian Government the steam 

 corvette Variag, to assist tho company in tho 

 carrying out of the enterprise. The secretary 

 of tho company states the total number of 

 steamers and other vessels iu its service, May, 

 I860, at twenty-four. 



It had been stated, in the early part of thr> 



