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 Telegraph Trail — Langley, BC Posted by:  Dunbar Loop
N 49° 08.984 W 122° 35.674
10U E 529565 N 5444180
The 1860s was an era of incredible growth in the global telegraph network. The Collins Overland Telegraph system was to link Moscow with San Francisco along the North American West Coast and across Siberia. It was never completed.
Waymark Code: WM9GYE
Location: British Columbia, Canada
Date Posted: 08/20/2010
Views: 8
In 1865 the Western Union Telegraph Company embarked on an ambitious plan to link America with Europe by telegraph. With $3,000,000 dollars capital it began string line from Moscow, Russia and San Francisco, California to be linked across the Bering Sea. But as the technology for undersea telegraph lines improved America was linked to Europe in 1867 with trans-Atlantic line. The North American section of the Collins Overland Telegraph line ended at Telegraph Creek in northern British Columbia.
Today several British Columbia communities owe their European roots to being relay points in the telegraph network. In the Fraser Valley and in Washington's Whatcom County there are segments of roads called Telegraph Trail which were pioneer routes following the Collins Overland route.
TELEGRAPH TRAIL
The first telegraph system in the Canadian West, undertaken by the Collins Overland Telegraph, was located and constructed through the Lower Fraser Valley by Edmund Conway, April-May, 1865. This plaque commemorates the original route of the telegraph trail in this vicinity.
Type of Marker: Cultural
Type of Sign: British Columbia Tourism Sign
Describe the parking that is available nearby: Roadside
What Agency placed the marker?: BC Tourism
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