The 49th State

In a way, the failure of Whitehouses’s high voltage experiments (see http://oiebeta.techmahindra.com/pg/blog/mm0015097/read/2426913/lord-kelvin-and-his-trick-with-mirrors-) led to the United State’s acquisition of Alaska!


Surprised? Then read on!

In 1858, with the difficulties the transatlantic cable was facing, another chain of thought opened up. Why not connect the North American continent with Europe through land, with just a small portion being under water ? The idea struck Perry McDonough Collins, a lawyer from the East Coast who moved to the west to further his career in Law with the California Gold Miners.

Using his political connections with one of California’s first senators, Perry Collins undertook adventurous voyages to Russia and China. He returned, full of ideas on promoting American domination and trade. He sold to the Western Union Telegraph Company the idea of an overland telegraph line linking America with Europe through Alaska ( which was part of Russia), Siberia and so on.

From 1858 for nearly five years , his idea received various setbacks due to the American Civil War. But in 1863 he went to Russia and got the permission from the Russian government for the scheme. Permission also came from the American senate, and from Britain for erecting the British Columbia part of the lines.

The Western Union then swung furiously into action. Collins became managing director of the Collins Overland Line Telegraph Company under its auspices. A virtual army of hundreds of soldiers returned from the Civil war was formed to undertake the arduous task. The navies United States and Russia sent their steamboats to protect the workers. One of the biggest purchase orders of the time, for 8000km of GI wire was placed on Henley and CO from Britain. And for the sea crossing at the Bering Straits and the Gulf of Anadyr, around 800km was submarine cable was also ordered.


Then came a twist in the tale. Collins went with Sibley, the Chairman of the Western Union, to meet the Russian Tsar and seek a permanent lease for the 3200 km section falling in Russia inwards of the Bering Strait.The Russian officials, surprised them by offering to sell the whole of Alaska to the Western Union!

The reason for this offer was that at that time Russia was not economically in a great shape, and feared that it would not be able to defend its northern border from invasions. But with a ‘friendly’ and powerful country like the USA it felt that the equation was more comfortable.


Western Union officials contacted the United States government and passed on this offer, as they were not interested in buying up a vast stretch of inhospitable land. And the rest is History!

In 1867, the governments reached an agreement on the sale, and the United States got what would later become its 49th state, for a measly 7.2 million Dollars!

And what of the overland telegraph Line?

Sadly, in spite of working at a furious pace, the project lost out to the Second Transatlantic Submarine cable which was demonstrated successfully in 1867. The Collins Overland Telegraph Company accepted defeat and abandoned work on the project!

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Reference: The worldwide history of telecommunications: Anton A. Huurdeman ; Wiley Interscience