The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1888-08-09
INDO-EUROPEAN TELEGRAPH,
low TRAvErrR WAS SURPRISED IN PERSIA
ENGLAND's ENTERPIIsR,

From the Belgian coast to the far dis
tant INDIA there stretches one continuous
long row OF splendid iron poles, climb
ing over rugged mountains in the Cauca-
sns, stretched out across the level Per-
san deserts ia long. straight reaches,
rotrudin< ike black, tspsriAe stAns
frem the white sand waves of Bsloochi.
stan. My first acquaintance with this
remarkable telegraph line was made at
TabreeZ. In riding from Constantin-
ople, through Anatolia and Koordistan,
L have been accompanied from time to
time by stretches of dilapidated Turkish
line, usually one wire mounted on rough
poles, twice as far apart as they ought
20 be and leaning toward all points of
the compass. At ErZeroum | seemed to
have got beyond the territory covered by
the Turkish system, and had ridden sew
eral days journey into Persia.
1t was wild, barbarous country about
the Turko- Persian border, inhabited
CHIEFLY by nomad koords, and / missed
even the occasional welcome company of a
Turkish telegraph line. Its disappear
ance seemed like casting off the last
strand of western civilization. At that
time L hardly expected to see another
telegraph line until should reach Jap
an, my intention being to reach the Psci
fic through Turkestan and China.
Suddenl J one day, when nearing Tab.
reez, saw away off on the desert q
sight that made me blink and rub my
eyes to make sure that it was not mere
optical illusion L was looking at. The
deserts of Persia are famous for pro-
ducing bogus objects-mirages of lakes
ana waving palms, of lovely castles and
singular facinating scenes; but this time
1t was none of these. Miles away to the
north, seemingly suspended in midair,
was league long row of telegraph poles,
straight as die, even as the pickets OF a
garden fence.
As | drew nearer the line assumed
more definite form. Its marvellous
symmetry, l then discovered, was not
the enchaDtment of distance, but a solid
reality in English iron, with the name of
the contracting firm stamped on the
poles. Every pole tapering from cir
cumferenee OF twenty inches at the bot
tom to six or eight at the top, and across
the dead level wastes OF the Persian
plains set up as evenly and perpendi-
oalarly ss they might have been in Hyds
park. 1t IS worth noting, perhaps, by
the way, that the English always take
particular pains to have everything Of
this kind very superior in the east. it is
perpetual ssourse of wonder and ad-
miration to the natives, q standing ad-
vertisement Of England's wealth, power
and ability to the multitude who have no
other way of learning.
From Tabreez l was able to follow
this infallibie guide into Teheran.
Often | could see it stretching ahead of
me mile after mile. the poles SO even
that they seemed not to vary an inch.
and disappearing in the heavens at the
farther end by the curious legerdemain
OF the desert. The eolian music of its
triple wires as the desert breezes played
through them, and the messages flashed
past from India to England, from Eng
land to lndla-how companionable it
was, that bit of civilization in q barbar-
Gus country, only those who have been
similarly placed know.-Thomas Stevens
in New York Sun.