True American. [volume] (Steubenville [Ohio]) 1855-1861, 1858-08-18
The Telegraphic Communicat tiOn with
Trinity Bay.

Inc Itl6SLhpulC OVAAlluuuANobA bAVu WAbA
Trinity Bay.
The Boston Transcript, alluding to the
difficulties Of telegraphing SO great dis
tance as Halifax says.
The length Of the telegraph line from
Boston 10 Trinity Bay is about 1000
miles---nearly the length Of the Atlantic
Gable. In the course of the route there
are two submarine wires, both of which,
however, have always worked admirably,
The line traverses Maine and New
Brunswick, going round The head Of the
Bay of Fundy. 1t then takes the north
ern shore of Nova Scotia and crosses the
Gut of Canso. Here is the FIRST section
Of submarine telegraph. 1t is only two
and half miles in length, and serves as
the connection between Nova Scotia and
Cape Breton, touching the western coast
Of that Island. From the western to the
eastern shores at Aspy Bay is wide
space Of territory, where the telegraph
stations are few and far between, and great
difficulty is necessarily experienced in
repairing any break.
AT Aspy Bay commenced the second
submarine line. 1t is rs miles long. and
connects Cape Breton with New found
land, The fret attempt TO lay these
wires was made in 1855, but it then
proved unsuccessful. In 1866, the effort
was renewed with success, and for The last
Two years there has been little, if any,
interruption Of the magnetic union between
the two islands. The cable is quite large,
composed of three strands, and has three
conducting wires. From Port au Basque,
the cable station on the western part Of
Newfoundland, the telegraph extends d.
rectly across the island to Trinity Bay.
, The distance is mol far from four hundred
miles, through wild country, and for the
most part an unbroken forest, where the
trees had to be cut down to make room
> for the telegraph posts. There are five
stations along this whole distance, the ter
, ritory is sparsely Inhabited, and tits easily
. perceived how hard it must be to discover
and rectify any occurrence which should
tend to destroy the communication on this
section of the line.
This telegraph is owned by three dif-
ferea Companies, the American Tele.
graph, the Provincial, and the Newfound-
land and London Telegraph Companies.
Being under such different management,
The line, as whole is exceedingly inefi-
) cent. Over a portion of it, there has
been small amount of business, and no
inducement to keep il in good working
order. On the island Of Cape Breton,
for instance, telegraph operators inform
US that the wires are sometimes down for
half the time. In the future, if the Allan.
tic Telegraph is permanently established,
these mishaps will be remedied. An ac-
cident to the American division of the
telegraph is speedily repaired; but our
provincial neighbors are long time in
finding out any trouble, are equally long
in its correction.
We have not referred 10 minor causes
which prevent telegraphing as effectually
as .houg the wires were displaced. The
lightning may mel. the magnet at some
station. and thus stop telegraph inter-
course. or the machinery meet with some
other mischance producing the same ef-
feet. A line like this fIom Boston to the
locality magnetic bands, is subject to SO
S many vicissitudes, it can be no special
s wonder to those familiar with the opera
, tions of the telegraph, that it is sometimes
unable to transmit intelligence beyond a
certain point, The misfortune is to have
; such state Of affairs occur just when
every whisper from the EXTREMIST limit
|, of the telegraph is anxiously awaited by
hundreds Of thousands of people in every
State of the Union. |. may not be amiss
: to state here that the telegraphing with
y Halifax may be considered as done by
# means Of branch telegraph divergnG
from the grand trunk line.