368 SPENCER FULLERTON BAIRD 
by an exchange of letters with these gentlemen, to many 
of whom he was indebted for most valuable material 
sent to the Museum. . . . In 1863, the first Atlantic 
cable having proved a failure, it was considered very 
doubtful whether a cable could be laid between America 
and Europe which would be of any permanent com- 
mercial value, many eminent physicists declaring that, 
while, of course, the possibility of laying one and accu- 
rately working it had been proved by the temporary 
success, it. was, nevertheless, a fact that the obstacles 
were so great to its continued usefulness that no hope 
could be entertained of its permanent efficiency. In view 
of this, the Western Union Telegraph Company began 
to consider the possibility of carrying a telegraph line 
along the Western coast of America, across Bering’s 
Straits, where, of course, the comparatively short dis- 
tance under water afforded fewer difficulties; then to 
Europe through Siberia. Plans were made for surveying 
parties who should carefully examine and report upon 
the territory through which the line would have to 
pass. 
“The headquarters of the Western Union Telegraph 
Company were at that time in Rochester, N. Y., where the 
President of the Company resided. Dr. Sewall Sylvester 
Cutting, a cousin of my mother, and a Professor in the 
University of Rochester was an intimate friend of the 
President and other leading men in the company. He 
was asked if he knew of any one acquainted with the 
region to be explored. A conference with my father 
followed and Kennicott was suggested.” 
The letters of Dr. Cutting to Professor Baird which 
followed refer to the negotiations, which, after a visit 
of these gentlemen to Rochester and Montreal, were 
