Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1886-09-17
TELEGRAPH LINE-MEN.
How Poles and Wires Are Put Up
at the Present Day.
Contrast Between the Work as It Was
Done Thirty Years Ago and as 1t Is Done
To-Day-The Dangers of a some-
what Disagreeahle Occupation.
TCincInnati Enauirer.l

Cincinnati Enquirer.l
One of the most important classes Of en-
ployes in the service of the various tele-
graph companies which run their networks
and labyrinths of wires throughout the
country are the line-men. They are the
strong fellows who raise the polls and at.
tach the wires. 1t is not by any means an
easy occupation, and requires considera-
BILE skill and endurance. The position of a
line-man is one which an ordinary laborer
could not fill, because it involves consid-
erable knowledge of engineering, and at
times a nimhleness not req duired of the
pick and shovel. In the early days of tele-
graphing good line-man was a rare arti-
Gle. His duties were very arduous. Pat
Whalen, boss of the Cincinnati corps of
Western Union line e-men, has grown gray
in the service. He is probably the oldest
and most experienced man in his business
in the West, and what he doesn't know
about raising telegraph poles and
mounting wires is hardly worth
learning. Pat began his career with the
old Union Telegraph Company on the 10th
day of June, 1856. At that time there
were but seven wires running iI to this
city, which were known as the House
Line, the Wade Line, the c., II. g. D., the
Little Miami, and a line from here to
Springfield. Shortly after Mr.. Whalen
went into service the Union and National,
two rival companies, were united into
what has become the Western Union Tele-
graph Company. The veteran line.man
has an interesting fund of "reminiscences
of his career. Very few people know
much about the labor of preparing tele-
graph line for use. The first step is to put
up the poles, run the wires, attach the
batteries and then the lightning jerkers
can proceed to business. Whalen's initial
experience as line-man was in putting
up the wire from Cincinnati to Indiana
polls. 1t was comparatively slow work in
the absence of the many faci lties which
have since been brought into use. The
| holes for the poles were dug with an or
dinary spade, the poles were with difficult
ty elevated to their proper place and the
openings filed up. At that period the opcr-
ators used the in -truments which printed
the characters on a large roll of paper,
such as are now used in giving stock re-
ports. Then the men in adjusting the
wires were comps lei to use ladders, as
accidents sometimes occurred. Ladders
have now been superse led by climbing
, hooks which are considered equally safe
and more expeditions. Linemen make
from thirty five to forty dollars on the
road besides their board, while in the cit
les they are paid from sixty to seventy
dollars per month. The exciting time for
line-men is when a long stretch of wire is
/ thrown down. The causes of breakage
are heavy storms or sleet. Whalen re-
! members when at one time sixty miles of
W uirox xx-a- kr.N hxyf ela ron-
road running out of this city. 1t took two
| or three days to repair it. Since the tele-
graph companies became so powerful and
every hamlet in the land, the demand for
| telegraph poles has almost exceeded the
supply. Those used by the Western
| Union come from Monroe, Mich,
where they are made by contract.
! A thirty to thirty five foot pole costs from
| $3.50 to 81, and the big fifty-foot poles put
up in the cities can not be bought for less
than 81 or IS. Along railroads and turn
| pixies there are from thirty five to forty
poles 10 each mile, but in the cities they
are separated by distance of only 120
| feet. The posts are of cedar and will last
not less than fifteen years. A crowd of
] curious spectators can always be found
around the place whe re a gang of linemen
/ are engaged in raising a great telegraph
pole. The work is watched with eager In
terest, and the process is as simple as it is
rnethodical and sure. A large hole, seven
feet deep, is dug, and the pole is laid SO
! that the base rests at the edge of the aper-
/ ture. The post is raised from the top and
crutch IS put under it to hold it station
ary. Then the men with long iron forks
shove against the pole, which slowly rises,
and the crutch is pushed under further
and further. The base goes grad
ually into the hole, and is kept from
slipping by strong tinbers placed against
it. A more common way to raise a tele-
| graph pole is by a derrick, and this method
is considered somewhat quicker. The post
never falls when elevated by a derrick,
but does occasionally when forks are EN- :
ployed. If the digging is easy four fifty
foot poles can be raised in day, but in the
city if two are put up it is usually consid.
cred a good days work. The country
line-men are, like members of the fire de.
partment, liable TO be summoned for duty
at any time. Once in a while, especially
after heavy storm of sleet, their work IL
attended with great peril, and they must
become accustomed to the hsrdships OF
winter. There are three kinds of wire
used in telegraph wire, Nos. 4, and &
They are graded according to heir size
and weight, No. being the heaviest and
No. s the lightest. The heavier the wire
the stronger becomes the electric current
| Curfnua Natural phanornanou