The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-04-26
Mountain Telegraph Cables.

The recent prolonged interruption of tele-
graphic copmunication with the Pacific
States, due to the great sleet storm coating
and loading down the wires, is forcible illus
tration Of the need Of subterranean or noun
tain cables In some portions of the Andes
visited by the violent mountain storms, de-
structive Of all telegraph lines above ground,
cables have been substituted for wires and
laid on the surface or under the ground APP
plication having been made to Sir William
Thomson, the highest authority as practical
and scientific electrician, to determine the
practicability of such lines, he has formally
given his opinion that they are Of great value,
and, except where, very rarely, an avalanche
may destroy them, they are unexceptionable.
The telegraph which crosses the Pampas
from Buenos Ayres to Mendoza, and thence
into Chile by the Uspallata Pass (at height
of twelve thousand five hundred feet above
the sea), is nearly twelve hundred miles long
and in its highest parts, from Punta de Inca,
on the eastern side of the Andes, to Ojos del
Aqua, on the Chilean side, it is snow cable,
buried two feet in the ground along the rail-
road, in order to avoid any fault Of insulation
in the Winter months. And this plan, accord
ing to the report Of the English Government
Inspector General of Mines to the Argentine
Republic. has proved most effective and of
the greatest convenience to merchants and all
classes on both sides of the Andes.
1t is very evident that subterranean or sur
face cables would be Of the greatest utility,
by withstanding the strain which now in
every hail, snow or sleet storm encases the
suspended wires with vast masses of ice,
breaks them to pieces and sewers our trans
continental and even local circuits We all
remember the sleet storm Of January 5, when,
to use the words of the Journal of the Tele-
graph of the 18th of that month"; sthough it
lasted only few hours, the results in the de-
struction Of wires and poles were without
parallel in this section The prostration of
the wires was SO general that in the evening
the Western Union Company did not have a
single wire in operation from their Office and
even the fre-alarm system for time was
wholly deranged. But the greatest and
most frequent telegraphic arrangements
of this kind occur between the. Pacific
and Eastern States, and such interruptions
in time of war, or as now, when the country
is anxious to hear from the seat of the late ter
rible tragedy at the Modoc lava beds, become
serious sources of public apprehension and
danger. mountain cable similar to that
which spans the Atlantic, only smaller, if laid
along the line of the Pacific Railroad, in lieu of
the present suspended wire, would never be in
danger Of breaking from sleet loads or snow
drifts, and we might depend upon it in all
weather for regular intelligence from California.
In case of railroad train being blockaded by
snow the conductor could easily attach an
instrument to the cable and communicate
with the nearest station, instead of being, as
now, left with wires broken and poles
down, entirely cut off from succor. Professor
Silliman, in recent letter, states that
if such snow cables as we propose are laid in
insulatory material proof against natural
agencies Of destruction, the electrical leak
age" will be very small-so much smaller than
can possibly be the case with wires suspended
in the air-as to effect great saving to the tele-
graph companies
The business interests of the whole country,
the press, the railroads, the government offices,
especially the Weather Bureau, and also the
Telegraph companies themselves, suffer 80 much