The Dupuyer acantha. [volume] (Dupuyer, Mont.) 1894-1904, 1895-08-08
LoNG-p1srANoE SIGNALING.
A Scheme for Sending HelfOgraaph
Messages From Washington to

A Scheme for Sending Telegraph
Messages From Washington to
Mexico.
The Mazamas of Portland, if they
can secure the assistance of any of the
university and scientific organizations,
military signal corps, or athletic and
outing clubs along the coast, will en-
dcavOr to send a Telegraph message
from Washington to Mexico. The
MaZamaS are a club of mountain
climbers at Portland, Ore, and have
selected July 10 next as the date for
the transmission of the u flashes.
They will begin signaling from Mt.
Adams, using the Morse system for
the purpose. Il. Brook White, secre-
tary of the Mazatmas, has recently or
ganized classes in Portland, which
have begun the preliminary study and
work necessary to the successful Ia
nipulation of the inS!"umcnts II Sue
c~essful. it will he the longest Distance
a message has ever been transmitted
by sun flashes. The Mazamas have
invited the government officers and
various state military organizations to
details. Prof. E;.T:CsOn of
the coast and geodetic survey, no
has had considerable erian;e in
transmitting photographic messages,
was asked last night if he thought the
Mazamas' undertaking could he sue
cessfully accomplished. he said:
prof. S. S. Hawkins Of Portland,
formerly of The University tf Cal'fOr-
MIA, has written to me TO interest me
in this matter, and 1 nave neen pre-
pairing a letter in wer -ile' etc. Or
course, the subject presented iy the
Mazamas. or mountain goats, is a
very interesting one, and some season
it nay be accomplished; but there vii
be much to learn an Syste Matte Le-
fore they succeed. In the first plic &c,
the mountains named by the Mazhmas
along the crest line of the Ca>"aies
and Sierra Nevada are not in all
| cases intervisible. For example, south
of Shasta the line adopted by the
coast and geodetic survey is Shasta,
| Lassen, Butte, Lola, Round Top,
CONFESS and possibly Whitney; or, by
another route, Shasta, Snow Noun
tain, Mount. Helena, Mount Diablo,
and possibly Whitney. l am convinced
that l have seen Shasta from Diablo,
224 miles. and Whitney, 222 miles.
But besides determining beforehand
the best lines to follow, a full season
with well organized parties will be
necessary to determine the intervisible
line and that freest from clouds. The
latter is Ole of the great drawbacks
in the work OF the coast and Seodetlc
survey Where q station could readily
be finished in fifteen days, the parties
have sometimes been fighting for
sights through two months and more.
AS to the distance to which these sig
nails may be sem little is known by ac-
tual experience outside of the coast
and geodetic survey, which has used
them over a liue of 1872 miles-Mount
Helena TO Mount ~Shasta-and owe a
| 1S3-mile line in Arizona, lately repeat,
ed by the signal corps of he army. !
have seen the ~heliograph signals 16C
miles with the naked eye in rare cases
| of fine weather. For all the eases OF
| intervisibility l have gotten out a for
mula determining the size of the
mirror for any distance. In example
| the line from Diablo to Shasta re
quires a mirror a little more than Il
inches square to give signals that will
be visible in 4 telescope of 3 inches OBJ
j~ective. With a mirror 20 inches
square L expect TO see the SlSlldl VIII
the naked eye. Moreover, the charac
ter of the mirror must be of the yer!
best plate glass and pure silver bacl
surface, with an additional reflector,
the sun is behind the sender. Their
is no part of the United States wher'
this experiment "a be so well tried
and tried successfully, as on this sea
board, but it will take time, syster
and organization to make a sur
thing of it. The sooner he Mazama
get the matter in line the sooner wi
the successful season come"