Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1889-12-07
LINEMEN.
After a Storm Their Tasks Are
Hard and Perilous.
Men Drift Into the Trade Naturally
Their Work and How 1t Il Paid
They Dread Storms More Than
SaiIormen Do.

It is in the room where the lInemen
meet to find out where there are wires
in trouble that they will have to fix.
Just which one of the companies it
NAV be, never mind. for the COM
panies do not like to have their line
men talk of the hardships and dangers
of the work and the little pay given
for their services, and if the linemen
were discovered telling the secrets of
their work it might go hard with
them. 1t is Monday morning, and the
linemen have come from their homes
to report to their foremen for duty.
Sunday was bad day. There was a
cyclone down off the coast, and through
the night it blew briskly over Man
hattan's housetops. Wires got crossed,
insulation sheaths became abraded,
long stretches of lines were swayed by
the wind till they grew slack, and all
through Sunday night there was diff
Guilty in sending messages either by
telephone or telegraph. And now this
Monday morning is even worse than
was Sunday. There is fog. there is
rain, and once in awhile there are
swift gusts of wind. 1t will be what
the men call trouble day. and there
will be more than plenty of work
for them to do. Already the districts
throughout the city have reported to
headquarters the trouble in this street
lo% s+n Tho foraroan Of tho
various gangs of linemen have re-
ceived tables showing where the
breaks, the crosses and the other
faults are, and now, at a little after
eight o'clock this Monday morning,
the foreman and his gang go out in
the rain and wind to make the wires
serviceable.
1t is familiar sight to New York
ers, these groups of three, four or
more sturdy men in rough clothes
walking smartly along, tools for fixing
wires in their hands, and the straps
and spurs of their climbers" hanging
over their shoulders. They are all
men with courage written on their
faces and agile strength shown in
their bodies, arms and legs. On and
on they walk, with their eyes, from
force of habit, glancing up toward the
wires reaching from pole to pole and
extending across house roofs. Pres
emily the foreman halts, and the others
stop behind him. Here is the first
place of trouble in the district which
this gang is covering. The foreman
gives his instructions and the men
prepare for work. First they bind
around their legs the spurs, and then
taking one comprehensive survey of
the wires aloft they see that their
tools are all right in their pockets.
Now the climbing begins. One man is
at this pole, another is at the next one,
and another somewhere else along the
street. The tall sticks of timber are
sixty or seventy feet high In jiffy
the linemen are up among the cross
pieces. Often there are loiterers who
linger on the curbstoues to watch the
work. But it is difficult to tell just
there in the air. 1t isn't pleasant to
turn up ones face to the falling rain
drops, and besides, the maze of wires
binders close observation, and the
most careful of onlookers finds himself
unable to see fully the operations of
the lineman. One thing you can easily
see, though, and that Is that the work.
man displays exceeding care in select
ing his position and in managing not
70 touch certain wires.
At last he descends from the cross
pieces and stands upon the flag walk.
But he has no time to waste, and is
soon off to another pole, up that, at
work in the maze, then down again
and off to another pole. Then, per-
haps, his work takes him to the roof
of a house, and he must climb careful
iy over the slanting tin or slate, be
careful about cinmaV Scuttbe holes. and