who was with me on both of my Siberian expeditions; and partly from
photographs taken by Messrs. Jochelson and Bogoras, two Russian
political exiles, who made the scientific investigations for the Jesup
North Pacific Expedition on the Asiatic side of Bering Strait.

I desire gratefully to acknowledge my indebtedness to The Century
Company for permission to use parts of two articles originally written
for _St. Nicholas_; to Mrs. A.D. Frost, of North Cambridge, Mass.,
for photographs of her late husband's paintings; and to the American
Museum of Natural History for the right to reproduce the Siberian
photographs of Messrs. Jochelson and Bogoras.

GEORGE KENNAN.

BEAUFORT, S.C.

February 16, 1910.




PREFACE

The attempt which was made by the Western Union Telegraph Company, in
1865-66 and 67, to build an overland line to Europe via Alaska,
Bering Strait, and Siberia, was in some respects the most remarkable
undertaking of the nineteenth century. Bold in its conception, and
important in the ends at which it aimed, it attracted at one time
the attention of the whole civilised world, and was regarded as the
greatest telegraphic enterprise which had ever engaged American