In 1860 the U.S. Congress arranged among the telegraph companies a competition to create a national line. The winner was Western Union. July 3, 1884 the company's shares were included in the calculation base for the newly created stock index Dow Jones Transportation Average. By 1861 Western Union telegraph lines entangled the whole America. It's time to explore Europe. 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. The first offices of company were located in the Reynolds Arcade building in Rochester, New York. The sign above the main entrance to the building -