Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1895-06-26
PEAKS AND SIGNALS.
Heliograph Signals devised by
Mountain Climbers.
FROM MOUNT BAKER TO WHITNEY
Messages Carried 1000 Miles by Sun
light-Fourteen Great Peaks VIII be
Assembled at the Same Time.

Unless plans miscarry. the coming
summer will witness from the noun.
tain tops of the Pacific coast the great
est feat of heliograph signaling ever
attempted. Sunflash messages will
be sent 1000 miles from the extreme
northern line of Washington to the
southern line of California. from
British Columbia to Mexico. This
ambitious project has been conceived
and will be carried out by the Maza.
mas, a mountain. climbing society OF
Oregon, with headquarters in Port
land, and has received the Endorsement
OF Prof. Davidson, of the United
States Coast and Geodetio Survey.
and of Gen. A. w Greedy, chief of the
Signal Corps of the United States
Army, who has directed Lieut. French,
the ranking signal officer of the coast,
to give it all the assistance possible
The peaks that have been selected,
in their order from north to south. are:
Baker. Rainier. st. Helens and Adams,
in Washington; Hood, jefferson, Three
Sisters and Pitt, in Oregon; Shasta.
Lasen. Lola, Round Top, Conn, IS
and Whitney. or Shasta. Snow. Helena.
Diablo and Whitney, in California OF
the two routes in California, the
former would be the easiest for signal
ing purposes, but is by far the most
difficult to reach by climbing parties,
writes correspondent of the st. Louis
Globe Democrat. This programme
for its success requires that mt least a
dozen different climbing parties shall
plunge in to the montain Businesses of
Washington, Oregon and California.
and so time their movements that they
will all reach their respective mountain
SUBMITS by the middle of the forenoon
of July 10. the day set for the expert
ment. establish their signal stations.
get the ranges of the mountains to the
north and south of them and be ready
for work by noon.
The failure of some of these parties
would break the chain, for the noun
tains selected to the north and south of
some OF the stations are not intervisa.
BILE. A message from Rainier cold be
sent to st. Helens, Adams. Hood and
probably Jefferson, SO that failure
of one or two of those parties would
not necessarily be fatal to the scheme.
A failure at Jefferson or Shasta would
be fatal. as there could be no substitute
station for either of them.
What it means to climb these noun
tains and estab blish these stations can
only be realized by one who has
actually attempted that difficult feat.
Shasta. Rainier and Whitney are
each over $4,000 feet high, while the
others are from 5000 to $4,000 feet.
The contingency of accident is SO great
that it would be marvellous accom-
plishment if all the parties were TO
reach their stations at the designated
time in good condition for work, and
yet the enthusiasts who have under
taken it have the zeal. experience and
determination to accomplish it. and
will do SO unless prevented by bad
weather and unforeseen happenings.
Much experimenting with long dis
lance signaling with the heliogaph has
been made by the army particularly
in Arizona. where the freedom of the
from clouds renders the use
If the instrument more practical than
N moister climate, but the summer
season of the entire Pacific coast is
dry and the sky so nearly
,loudless as to render the plan of the
Mazamas as practicable.
About six years ago Lieut.. O'Neill,
signal officer Of the department of the
Columbia took party of soldiers up
Mount Hood with a heliograph, and
attempted to send messages to Port
and, distant sixty miles. but besides
, few vagrant flashes nothing could be
seen at POrJIauu.
Lack of skill in the use of the instru-
nent was one of the causes of failure.
IN order to overcome this the Mazamas
ire practicing daily, and are becoming
Expert photographers. Some one who
thoroughly understands the instrument
will be with each party.