Arizona citizen. [volume] (Tucson, Pima County, A.T. [i.e. Ariz.]) 1870-1880, 1876-07-08
telegraph Construction and Re
pairs-Iieut. Reade's Views as
we Understand them.

Mexico. II being understood that the
objects had in view by him were con
nected with the prosperity of this sec
ton of the Territory, we called upon
him for interviewing purposes, and
hence are enabled to state that he Is
after telegraph poles first, last, and ev
cry time. What he wants is TO rebuild
the present rotten and dilapidated
lines. to connect Camp Grant with
Camp Apache, and to build from Grant
via Camp Bowie to Ralston, \. NJ
His resources for doing this work are
so limited, and appliances and mate
rial so restricted as regards poles and
means for purchasing more, that he is
compelled to ask the earnest attention
of the citizens of Arizona to the fol
lowing truths;
Without wire-suppOrts, no line can
be built. These supports are poles
and poles will decay; when decayed
they must be replaced, and if not re.
placed electric communication is in
terrupted; when telegraphic communi.
cation is delayed or impossible, the
losers are the patrons of the line; the
patrons are the citizens, the profession
al and business men. 1t accordingly
behooves them to lend a helping hand
when government fails or delays to
make appropriations necessary for the
continuance or completion of public
work intended, for the people must
be benefited by its progress or injured
by its discontinuance. To this condi-
ton the people Of Arizona have now
arrived, and what is needed are poles
at the rate of twenty-five to each and
every mile of line, each and every pole
to be not less than twenty-five feet in
length, to be the bolc or stem Of a tree,
straight, sound, barked and six inches
in diameter at the small end. Years
of experience in all sections of the
country has demonstrated that tele-
graph poles of dimensions below these
just described, are not desirable, and
ultimately expensive. If the adage
" the best is the cheapest be truly ap-
plicable to any business in life, it is
in no case more essentially true than
when applied to a telegraph line.
The advantage of extended instan-
taneous intercourse are so obvious as
to hardly require reference. Next TO
railway and mail service, the telegraph
is the greatest civilizer.
The present line was originally built
to serve military purposes, but at pres
ent is exclusively maintained by the
income on messages received and trans
mitted by civilians, government paying
nothing in cash for the use of the lines.
al ~-,I'e.---- boin0 defraved Lieut. X
has j small balance on hand to devote
to repairs and construction purposes.
He proposes to give this balance back
again, every cent of it, TO the citizen
from which it accrued by
increased efficiency in the operation of
The lines under his charge In no 9th
er portion of the world is telegraphing
so cheap As in Arizona. Twenty-Five
cents for a 10-wOrd message for two
hundred and fifty miles of line through
such a Territory as we possess, won't
accumulate much of "A fund for repairs
and construction purposes. If cOntin-
1ed telegraphic communication be de
sired, it behooves the citizens of Ari-
IONA to be no less public spirited than
our New Mexican neighborS.
Lieut. Reade's business here is to-
make an appeal to the large-minded
men of this community. Silver City,
New Mexico, gave two hundred poles.
Valencia county, New Mexico, gave
,iX hundred and twenty-five poles.
Bernalillo county gave one thousand
poles at half actual cost. Mesilla and /
Las Cruces, New Mexico, contributed /.
fifteen hundred dollars to help along
he good work. VIII Arizona do less {?
All along the Rio Grandc valley every
armer owning wagon and a few
-oke of oxen, turned out and hauled
POLES for nothing In New Mexico the
,ress, the people and the military conf
lined TO help along an enterprise, gov
in its nature, hut essentially
" the people and for the people. viii
arizona do likewise? Lieut.. Reade
las expressed his Willingness to an
wcr all questions connected with the
work with which he is identified and
Il the progress Of which he has sol
,ecn an interest On the principle
hat figures won't lie, he is ready to
how in the most minute detail, the
ctual cost Of every item, appliance,
tc., used in the construction of a tele-
,raph line. The cost of poles aside,
he cost is in no case less than fifty
Tor more than seyenty-fve dollars per
nile. When fine pine poles, hauled
Orty miles in New Mexico, can there
De purchased for half a dollar each, it
Gems strange that Arizona dealers
hould charge four times that figure
or an inferior cottonwood. No sus-
'icion OF jobbery can be associated
With an enterprise concerning the cost
# which. in detail can be piyen and