Colonial Despatches

The Bering Strait links North America and Asia at their closest points as well as the Arctic Ocean and the Bering Sea.1 A telegraph line was constructed by way of the Bering Strait in the 1800s.2 The telegraph line constructed was to be a way to connect Russia to North America as an alternative to transatlantic lines, and so an overland line was constructed across parts of British Columbia as part of this route.3 However, once a second transatlantic line was installed and proved reliable, the construction of the overland line was eventually abandoned on 27 February 1867, although the section from New Westminster to Quesnel was leased to the province and and eventually expanded through parts of the country.4

• 1. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, Bering Strait, Encyclopaedia Britannica.
• 2. Cardwell to Kennedy, 4 May 1865, NAC, RG7, G8C/5, 130.
• 3. Phillip H. Ault, The (almost) Russian-American Telegraph, American Heritage.
• 4. Anton A. Huurdeman, The Worldwide History of Telecommunications (New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2003), 103.