Chapter Fifteen 
EYES ON THE PACIFIC 
A RESTLESS IMAGINATION like Field’s did not stop at bridging 
the Atlantic. He hoped to see the Pacific likewise conquered 
by a cable, so that messages could be flashed around the 
world. At that time there was telegraphic communication 
from China to western Europe by way of the British cables 
and overland wires to India. Field hoped to see an alternate 
line by way of the Pacific islands to Japan and Shanghai, but 
did not wish to become involved and absorbed in the project 
as he had in the Atlantic cable. 
Through his connections in Congress, Field used his influ- 
ence in 1870 for obtaining privileges for a projected organi- 
zation to lay a Pacific cable. The route selected was over six 
thousand miles in length, as compared with the two thousand 
miles of Atlantic cable. But by dividing this total into four 
parts between islands, no one span would be much longer 
than the Atlantic cable. 
A cable from San Francisco to the Hawaiian Islands, Field 
estimated, would be 2080 miles. From Hawaii to the coaling 
station of Midway Island would be 1140 miles. The longest 
stretch, from Midway Island to Yokohama, would be 2260 
miles. A cable from Yokohama to Shanghai would be 1035 
miles. ‘The total was 6515 miles. 
This total was later found too small. The long span from 
Midway Island to Japan, with its great depths, was judged 
less feasible than a zigzag from Midway Island to the island 
of Guam; thence by way of the island of Yap to Shanghai, or 
by way of the Philippines to Hongkong. The total mileage 
of this would be well above seven thousand miles, and the 
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