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40-525: In the early 1860s, Perry Collins obtained financing from Western Union Telegraph to build a telegraph line from San Francisco through British Columbia and Alaska and across the Bering Strait to Russia and ultimately Europe . The line was begun in 1865 at New Westminster , and continued as far as the Skeena River in 1866, but then the project was abandoned as the transatlantic line

80-477: A Pacific network of railroads and steamships as being the means to make his fortune and develop western trade. Returning briefly to St Petersburg in 1858, he was warned his scheme was premature. Instead and coincident with the failure of the telegraph line across the Atlantic, he proposed an intercontinental telegraph line. This line would run through either Canada or the western United States, into British Columbia,

120-584: A bronze statue of Muravyov was erected on one of the Amur River's cliffs near Khabarovsk . In 1929, it was taken off and replaced with a statue of Lenin , which stood there until 1989. The Muravyov-Amursky memorial was restored in 1993. In 1992, the remains of Muravyov-Amursky were brought from Paris to be re-buried in the central part of Vladivostok , which stands on the Muravyov-Amursky Peninsula , named after this statesman. In 2012

160-720: A bronze statue of the governor was installed over the tomb, overlooking the Zolotoy Rog bay, which he visited in 1850s. The Khabarovsk monument—along with the Khabarovsk Bridge over the Amur River—is depicted on the 5000  ruble banknote issued by the Central Bank of the Russian Federation on July 31, 2006. [REDACTED]   This article incorporates text from a publication now in

200-467: A governor general of Eastern Siberia, Muravyov-Amursky made numerous attempts to settle the shores of the Amur River. These attempts were mostly unsuccessful as very few people wanted to move to the Amur voluntarily. Muravyov had to transfer several Baikal Cossacks detachments to populate the area. Also unsuccessful were attempts to organize steamboat transportation on the Amur and to build a postal road. As

240-818: A major role in the expansion of the Russian Empire into the Amur River basin and to the shores of the Sea of Japan . The surname Muravyov has also been transcribed as Muravyev or Murav'ev . Nikolay Muravyov was born in Saint Petersburg and graduated from the Page Corps in 1827. He participated in the Siege of Varna in the Russo-Turkish War in 1828–1829, and later in suppression of

280-549: A series of artillery batteries was established to defend the peninsula. The batteries played a major role in defending the city of Petropavlovsk (see Siege of Petropavlovsk ), which was attacked by the English and French forces. The 1855 expedition transported the first Russian settlers to the Amur's estuary. Muravyov started negotiations with the Chinese about that time. During the last expedition of 1858, Muravyov concluded

320-664: A tributary of Dease Creek . In 1874, more than a million dollars' worth of gold was taken from the region and in 1877, one prospector found the largest gold nugget ever recorded in British Columbia: a 72-ounce gold nugget, mined from McDame Creek. Much as the Stikine Country had been affected by the rush on the Stikine River , the Cassiar Gold Rush caused the government to show an interest in

360-538: Is known of his early life, but in his early thirties he left his unrewarding law office job and routine east coast lifestyle. In 1846, he headed south to New Orleans. There he met manifest destiny evangelists William McKendree Gwin and Robert J Walker who fervently believed that America should dominate the North American continent. When news of the California gold rush reached New Orleans, Gwin went west with

400-405: The Amur River , its boundary with China, as the key geostrategic location. Gwin together with William Seward looked on this Russian eastern expansion and convinced themselves that it paralleled America's expansion westward. Financing a survey, Collins, already a fan of Ferdinand von Wrangel read it eagerly on his return. He later wrote "I had already fixed in my own mind upon the river Amoor as

440-580: The November Uprising in Poland in 1831. For health reasons, he retired from the military in 1833 and returned home to manage his father's estate. However, he returned to active duty in 1838, as General Golovin's aide-de-camp , to serve in the Caucasus region. During one of the campaigns against the mountain people Muravyov was wounded. . In 1840, Muravyov was assigned to command one of

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480-776: The Russian American Telegraph (known in British Columbia as the Collins Overland Telegraph). In 1876 Collins moved to New York City, where he took residence in the St. Denis Hotel in Lower Manhattan , where he lived for nearly 25 years. He left a considerable fortune when he died there on January 18, 1900. 17 years later his niece bequeathed $ 550,000 from that estate for a scholarships at New York University . A Voyage Down

520-594: The Transbaikalia . Muravyov-Amursky retired from his post of governor general in 1861 after his proposal to divide Eastern Siberia into two separate governorates general was declined. He was appointed as a member of the State Council . In 1868, he moved to Paris, France, where he lived until his death in 1881, visiting Russia only occasionally to participate in the State Council meetings. In 1891,

560-504: The Treaty of Aigun with the Qing official Yishan . The Chinese were initially against setting any kinds of boundaries along the Amur River, preferring the status quo of keeping the adjacent territories under joint control of Russia and China. Muravyov, however, was able to persuade the Chinese that Russia's intentions were peaceful and constructive. The Treaty of Aigun effectively recognized

600-648: The 1880s most of the gold had been recovered and nearly all of the miners left the area, while only few merchants and Chinese miners remained behind. The region was also affected by the Klondike Gold Rush when in 1897–1898, 5000 miners went to the Yukon via the all Canadian route, up the Stikine River to Telegraph Creek and overland to the Teslin River . After the excitement of the gold rushes,

640-479: The Amoor ; D Appleton & Company, NY, 1860 Nikolay Muravyov-Amursky Count Nikolay Nikolayevich Muravyov-Amursky (also spelled as Nikolai Nikolaevich Muraviev-Amurskiy ; Russian: Никола́й Никола́евич Муравьёв-Аму́рский ; August 23 [ O.S. August 11] 1809 – November 30 [ O.S. November 18] 1881) was a Russian general, statesman and diplomat, who played

680-579: The Amur River as the boundary between Russia and Qing Empire and granted Russia free access to the Pacific Ocean. For this, Muravyov was granted the title of Count Amursky (i.e., "of the Amur River"). According to an article by the Russian novelist Vladimir Barayev, the signing of the treaty was celebrated by grandiose illumination in Peking and festivities in major Siberian cities. Riasanovsky deems

720-564: The Arctic to San Francisco. When Gwin became one of California's first two senators, Collins had a direct line to Washington. He planned to use it to support new and exotic schemes looking beyond the Pacific and into Asia. At that time, Russia had expanded towards the Asian side of the Pacific. In 1847, the appointed Governor, Nikolai Muraviev , was determined to expand Russian trade and fixed on

760-669: The Cassiar was nearly forgotten until the early 1940s when the American military built the Alaska Highway from Dawson Creek , British Columbia to Fairbanks, Alaska , thus further opening up the area and providing ease of transportation. Small companies began gold mining with heavy equipment. Then, most notably, the early 1950s brought the Cassiar Asbestos Mine , which operated from 1953 until 1992 and produced

800-648: The Chinese frontier town of Maimattschin and related in great detail the Mongol New Year celebration of the Feast of the Lanterns. The following spring, he headed east to Chita ( Chita, Russia ) where he began his river journey on the Ingoda River , a tributary of the Amur. All the while, he was thinking about business. As Vilhjalmur Stefansson noted, "Collins the nineteenth-century Marco Polo, and Collins

840-541: The United States. Together, they worked on promoting this overland international line. Indeed, they obtained some considerable support. As California senator Milton Latham suggested in 1861, through the line "we hold the ball of the earth in our hand, and wind upon it a network of living and thinking wire till the whole is held together and bound with the same wishes, projects and interests." The Civil War intervened, but in 1863 Collins returned to Russia to represent

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880-470: The Western Union board that they buy all of Collins' rights and set up a subsidiary company. He received $ 100,000 and one tenth of the stock in the new Western Union Extension Company. The remaining stock was snapped up. With US Government support finalized through a bill signed by Abraham Lincoln and the British Columbia colonial assembly ratifying what had been agreed with London earlier, thus began

920-547: The aim of becoming California's first (Democratic) senator. Collins followed on deciding to mine not gold but the miners. He tried his hand as a lawyer in Sonora. Records reveal that he took part in seven cases, lost six and won the other by default. He turned to business and helped start the American Russian Commercial Company with Gwin. This started with the opportunistic aim of shipping ice from

960-428: The area and John R Adams was appointed as government agent for the Cassiar region in 1873, and was followed by Judge J.H. Sullivan who became the region's gold commissioner . Laketon , also known as Dease Town became the unofficial capital of the Cassiar and at the height of the rush it had five stores, four hotels, two cafes and its own newspaper. Other gold rush towns were Porter Landing and Defot . However, by

1000-577: The company town of Cassiar . Perry Collins Perry McDonough Collins (1813–1900) was the visionary behind the Russian-American Telegraph of 1865–1867. The failed venture aimed to connect America to Europe by telegraph via the Bering Strait . Born in Hyde Park, New York , in 1813, he was named after American naval heroes, Commodores Oliver Hazard Perry , Matthew Perry (naval officer) and Thomas MacDonough . Little

1040-404: The coronation of Tsar Alexander II . On receipt of the relevant permits, he set out to Irkutsk on the post road. By all accounts, he was impressed by Russia and charmed everyone he met with his enthusiasm for his hosts and their country. After Irkutsk, he met up with Muraviev again and headed to the southern border town of Kyakhta where many drunken evenings ensued. He crossed over the border to

1080-508: The destined channel by which American commercial enterprise was to penetrate the obscure depths of Northern Asia, and open a new world to trade and civilization." With the help of Gwin and Russian Ambassador Edward de Stoekl, he received an audience with President Franklin Pierce in 1856 and impressed. As the new Commercial Agent for the Amur, he set sail toward St Petersburg . There, he met Muraviev before travelling to Moscow where he attended

1120-530: The governor-general of Irkutsk and Yeniseysk ( Eastern Siberia ). His appointment was a subject of much controversy, as it was unusual for a person of his age (only 38 at the time) to be put in charge of such a vast territory. Contrary to the views of Karl Nesselrode , the Russian Foreign Minister , Muravyov was personally instructed by Tsar Nicholas I to press for an advantage against China. Muravyov's first action as governor-general

1160-400: The local population, he favored the building of new Christian churches and promoted local religious beliefs such as shamanism and Buddhism . After the 1689 Treaty of Nerchinsk , Russia lost the right to navigate the Amur River . Muravyov insisted on conducting an aggressive policy with China despite strong resistance from St Petersburg officials, who feared a breakdown in relations between

1200-474: The main objection of the St. Petersburg officials against taking over the left bank of the Amur was lack of people to defend the new territories, Muravyov-Amursky successfully petitioned to free Nerchinsk peasants from mandatory works in the ore mines. With these people, a 12,000 corps of Amur Cossacks was formed and used to settle some of the lands, the military core being the Cossacks transferred from

1240-557: The negotiations with the Chinese regarding establishing a border along the Amur River and to transport troops to the Amur's estuary. From 1854–58, Muravyov assisted Gennady Nevelskoy in achieving that goal. The first expedition took place in May 1854. A fleet of 77 barges and rafts, led by the steamship Argun , sailed down to the Amur's estuary. Due to the Crimean War , a portion of the fleet was then sent to Kamchatka 's Avacha Bay , where

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1280-622: The northern British territories, into Russian America (Alaska), over the Bering Strait to Siberia and then along the Amur to Irkutsh and thence Europe. Success of such a scheme, Collins anticipated, would deliver all intercontinental communication into the hands of the Americans. In 1859, he approached Hiram Sibley , head of the Western Union Telegraph Company and promoter of an intercontinental line across

1320-579: The poet of coal, timber, opals, sables and steamships, railroads and rubies were never allowed to interfere with Collins, the strict man of business." On July 10, he finally reached Nikolayevsk-na-Amure . He was impressed. He saw this as the center of trade with eastern Siberia, Kamchatka, America, Japan and China. His round the world trip left him convinced that the Russians and Americans had much to achieve together. Arriving back in America, he decided on

1360-400: The province's state of affairs, he proposed to establish the governorate agricultural society. Muravyov was the first governor to propose Tsar Nicholas I to abolish serfdom ; a motion signed by nine local land-owners. While the tsar did nothing about the petition, from then on he always referred to Muravyov as a "liberal" and a "democrat". On September 5, 1847, Muravyov was appointed

1400-550: The scheme. He obtained approval. He then met Lord Palmerston in London to discuss the line in British Columbia and the British Northern Territories. On his side was Paul Reuter , then head of Reuters news agency. Making a reasonable though not entirely perfect deal, he returned to Washington, reissued his book on his Russian journey down the Amur and was now able to take a back seat. Sibley recommended to

1440-587: The sections of the Black Sea coast defense lines, during which time he participated in the suppression of the Ubykh people . Muravyov was promoted in rank to major-general in 1841, but had to permanently retire from the military due to illness. He transferred to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and was appointed as an acting military and civil governor of Tula province in 1846. Eager in his willingness to improve

1480-516: The treaty "extremely advantageous" to Muravyov and to Russia. The new territories acquired by Russia included Priamurye and most of the territories of modern Primorsky and Khabarovsk krais (territories). The Treaty of Aigun was confirmed and expanded by the provisions of the Beijing Treaty of 1860, which granted Russia right to the Ussuri krai and southern parts of Primorye . As

1520-513: The two countries. Nevertheless, because the lower reaches of the Amur River were, in fact, being claimed by the Russians, several expeditions organized by Gennady Nevelskoy had been approved by the government. In 1851–1853, several expeditions were sent to the Amur Liman and Sakhalin , with Russian settlements being established in those areas. On January 11 1854 [ O.S. December 31, 1853], Tsar Nicholas I authorized Muravyov to carry

1560-476: Was built first, making the Collins line redundant. Despite the fact that the Collins line would not be completed, surveyors had created a primitive route from Quesnel to the newly established settlement of Telegraph Creek , thus opening up the northern districts of British Columbia for determined and hardy travelers. In the 1870s a gold rush occurred in the region, based at McDame Creek and at Thibert Creek ,

1600-536: Was to put end to the embezzlement of public funds. He also mandated the study of the Russian language in schools for native Siberian and Far Eastern peoples. He pursued the exploration and settlement of the territories north of the Amur River , often utilizing the help of political exiles. Many of his actions were aimed to expand commerce in the Far Eastern region. Seeing religion as a powerful form of control over

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