Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-06-19
PRIVATE WIRES.
What It Costs to Establish Neighborhood
Telegraph Lines.

What It Costs to Establish Neighborhood
Telegraph Lines.
In the State of Indiana there 10 q
telegraph line in operation which places
three or four farm-houses in commune
cation with each other. The benefits
thereby derived are of great value, and
the young folks take great pleasure in
this mode of communication. The
Free Press some time ago mentioned a
line which is in operation in the south
ern part of this State. 1t is several
miles in length and places eighteen or
twenty residences in communication
with each other. The line runs to a
village arr IS connected with a doc
tors office there, thus giving each
s'oifice," or house, provided with an
instruments direct connections with the
doctor, a great advantage in case OF
sickness or an emergency. In case of
fire or burglary. any family can sum-
mon and obtain assistance at once
from their neighbors.
Farmers have no idea of the feasibil-
ity of a scheme of this kind, and thecost
is very slight, compared with the bene-
fits they may gain thereby.
We will suppose that there are four
or five farmers, who wish to build a
telegraph line and connect with the
Post-otfice or telegraph office. Sup
pose the line is to be about one mile IN
length. Let us figure up the cost.
No. II galvanized iron wire is very
we'll adapted for a line of this length,
and one mile Of it would cost about
$l5. The glass insulators, and brack-
cts to fasten on poles and attach the
wires to, will cost but a few dollars.
The poles are a small item to farmers
rs the wire need be carried only higl
enough to keep it out of easy reach #
mischievous boys, except in pass
where that people are liable to DIRE
under it. In such places it must oe
high enough to clear a nan standing
upon a load of hay. Your boys willbe
glad to have the privilege of cutting
the poles, and to assist in building The
line, because they are to have lots of
fun IN chatting over the wire, playing
checkers by telegraph, etc., during The
long winter evenings.
The gravity battery" as it is called,
is the best and cheapest kind to use for
this purpose. Youw will need five "cells''
or jars of this battery for the line and
an additional ''celI' for every instru-
ment attached to the line, half of the
battery to be attached to each end of
the line, and none anywhere else. Thus
if your line is connected with five build
ings, you will want ten jars, which will
cost you about seventy-five cents each.
The best instruments to use are those
in which the ''sounder'' and 'key' are
on one base. In case you have chill
dren who are apt to NEEDLE with it,
you a make a cover to lock over it.,
after the fashion of a sewing-mach ne.
The instruments will cost you about
five dollars each. 1t will not pay to
! get the cheapest, neither will it be nee
essary to have the high-priced ones.
You will also need a ''cut-o out" and
'lightning-arrester" combined, so that
you can switch off the instrument dur
lug heavy thunder-storms. and ctfcctu-
ally protect your property. There are
several kinds of cheap ones which will
answer very well, and cost about one
dollar each.
During my five years experience as
telegraph operator on different lines, l
know of only one instance wherein an
office was damaged by lightning, and
that was probably due to the operators
neglect IN not cutting or switching
out his instrument before going home
in the evening.
To sum it up the expenses would bs
about as follows:
One mile Of wire SIS OC
Battery, 10 cellsG75 ............ Z 50
Instruments, $685.. ................ 25 OF
Cut-outs, or switches, 5a$l............ 5 OC
$55 SO
This sum divided by five leaves each
farmers expenses $11.lO a small sum
to compare with the good yon will get
ont Of If.