The following account of one who actively participated, laid out and worked on the Alaska telegraph system is told, I believe, for the first time. To a young lieutenant in the United States service, it seemed as great an undertaking as the Lewis and Clark Expedition, Fremont's trip to California, or the opening of the routes along the Mexican border to the Pacific Coast. Three and a half decades ago, conditions in the whole world, expecially in an economic and military way, were quite as they had been for long periods before. The only difference in means of transportation was the steam engine, applied on land to railroads and on the water to steamships. In the interior of Alaska, away from the coast line and navigable streams, all movement from one place to another was either done by men or animals, with packs on their backs, or by dog team, as it had been for centuries. At that time our nation still had the pioneering spirit of expansion and we were looking for new fields to conquer. We had come to America as a nation of seamen. It took us many years to become a nation of woodsmen and pierce the great forests that curtained off the the middle west from the Atlantic coast. It took years for our people to become plainsmen and reach the Pacific Coast. The thorough reconnoitering and opening up of Alaska marked the end of that period.