Perry Collins

Lore & Background

Perry McDonough Collins was born in Hyde Park, New York, in 1813, named after naval heroes Oliver Hazard Perry, Matthew Perry, and Thomas MacDonough. After an unrewarding law career, he moved to New Orleans in 1846, where he met manifest destiny advocates William McKendree Gwin and Robert J. Walker. During the California gold rush, Collins followed Gwin west, mining not gold but the miners, and later co-founded the American Russian Commercial Company with Gwin, initially shipping ice from the Arctic to San Francisco. With Gwin as a U.S. senator, Collins gained access to Washington and became fascinated with Russian expansion along the Amur River, which he saw as a gateway for American trade into Asia.

In 1856, with help from Gwin and Russian Ambassador Edward de Stoekl, Collins secured an audience with President Franklin Pierce and was appointed Commercial Agent for the Amur. He traveled to Russia, met Governor Nikolai Muraviev, attended the coronation of Tsar Alexander II, and journeyed to Irkutsk, Kyakhta, and the Chinese frontier. In spring, he traveled the Ingoda and Amur Rivers to Nikolayevsk-na-Amure, envisioning it as a trade hub. Returning to America, he proposed an intercontinental telegraph line through Canada, British Columbia, Russian America, the Bering Strait, and Siberia to Europe. He partnered with Hiram Sibley of Western Union, obtained support from Senator Milton Latham, and secured approval from Russia and Britain. The Russian-American Telegraph began in 1865 but ultimately failed.

Reader's Guide

Perry Collins is significant primarily as the driving force behind the Russian-American Telegraph, an ambitious 1860s project that aimed to link America and Europe via an overland line crossing the Bering Strait. Though the venture failed—rendered obsolete by the successful transatlantic cable—it represented a bold attempt to assert American technological and commercial dominance in global communications. Collins' earlier career illustrates the entrepreneurial spirit of the era: he shifted from law to mining to commerce, leveraging political connections to pursue grand schemes. His writings, including 'A Voyage Down the Amoor,' and his role in founding the American Russian Commercial Company reflect early U.S.-Russian economic cooperation. The telegraph project also spurred exploration and mapping of remote regions in British Columbia and Alaska. Collins' legacy includes a substantial fortune, part of which funded scholarships at New York University after his death. His life exemplifies the intersection of manifest destiny, technological ambition, and international diplomacy in the 19th century.

Did You Know?

• Collins was named after three American naval heroes: Commodores Oliver Hazard Perry, Matthew Perry, and Thomas MacDonough.
• He lost six of seven court cases as a lawyer in Sonora, winning the other by default.
• He attended the coronation of Tsar Alexander II in Moscow.
• His niece bequeathed $550,000 from his estate for scholarships at New York University in 1917.