dicular precipice
on the other, and in one place is carried around the face of a cliff in
this manner, at an elevation of some two thousand feet, directly over
the river, being in some places blasted out of the solid rock, and in
others supported by a sort of staging.

Two exploring parties have been dispatched from San Francisco: one to
examine the route through Eastern Siberia, between Behring's Strait and
the Amoor; and the other to follow the proposed route up the Frazer
River in British Columbia, and thence along the valley supposed to exist
between the Rocky Mountains and the Coast Range, to the head-waters of
Pelly River, following down the valley of this river and the Yerkin,
into which it empties, to a point near the mouth of the latter, or in
the neighborhood of Behring's Strait.

The Pacific Telegraph Line, which will form an important link in the
overland line to Europe, was projected in 1859, when the measure was
first brought to the attention of Congress. A bill in aid of the project
was passed after some opposition, and proposals for the construction of
the line were invited by Secretary Cobb. Mr. Hiram Sibley, President of
the Western Union Telegraph Company, who was really the originator of
the whole enterprise, submitted to the directors of the Company the
question of authorizing him to send in proposals; but so formidable did
the undertaking appear, that the proposition was carried only by a
single vote.

After long and tedious delays on the part of Secretary Cobb, the
contract for building the line was awarded, on the 20th of September,
1860, to Mr. Sibley, on behalf of the Western Union Telegraph Company.
The Company at once assumed the contract, and furnished all the money
required for the line east of Salt Lake.

Mr. J. H. Wade, of Cleveland, one of the officers of the Company, now
visited California to confer with parties familiar with the various
routes, to determine where and how to build the line, and to arrange
with the telegraph companies in the Pacific States to extend their lines
eastward and form a business connection. The California Company agreed
to assume the construction of the line to Salt Lake City, and, if
possible, to have it completed to that point as soon as the line from
the eastward reached there. The route selected was _via_ Forts Kearney,
Laramie, and Bridger, crossing the Rocky Mountains at the South Pass,
and thence to Salt Lake City; and from this point, _via_ Forts