In 1935, Western Union has put into operation first intercity fax communication. In 1864, fearing the laying of long underwater lines, Western Union offered to carry out laying of telegraph lines to Europe through the Russian Alaska under the narrow Bering Strait and then to Siberia with branching in the major cities of Europe. Thanks to cooperation with Western Union the Associated Press at the end of the XIX century took almost monopolistic position in the U.S. market news. In 1849, Selden and Sibley, the founders of the future Western Union, created the New York State Printing Telegraph Company. Number of active holders of "Golden Card" of Western Union amounted to 9.5 million people worldwide. Sibley, the founder of Western Union, did not build a new telegraph lines, and persuaded the other players to join. American Telegraph Company, however, still had to buy it.