The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1895-06-01
LoNG-p1sTANCE SIGNALING.
A scheme for Sending HellOgraaph
Messaees From Washington tG

A scheme for Sending HellOgraaph
N~fe.saees From Warrington 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-
dcayor to send a Telegraph message
from Washington to Mexico. The
A%Iazan.as are a club of mountain
climbers at Portland, Ore, and have
selected July 10 next as the date for
the transmission of the sun flashes.
They will begin signaling from Mt.
Adams, using the Morse system for
the purpose. II. Brook White, secre-
tary of :.he Mazatmas, has recently or
ganized classes in Portland, which
have begun the preliminary Study n
work necessary to the successful IA
nipulation of the instruments u suc-
cessful, it will be the longest distance
a message has eve been transmitted
by syn flashes. The Mazamas have
invited the government officers and
various state military organizations to
ARRANGE details. Prof. Davidson Of
the coast and geodetic sH,e!, Who
has had considerable rXD eriaa .e in
transmitting heliographi: messages,
| was asked last night if he thought the
Mazamas' undertaking could lie sue.
cessfully accomplished. He said:
"Trof. s. S. Hawkins rf Portland,
formerly Of The University # Califor-
MIA, has written to me to interest me
in this matter, and 1 have ,"aen pre-
pairing a letter in n Wer -:ie' or
course, the subject presented i;y the
Mazamas. or mountain goats, is a
very interesting one, and some season
it may be accomplished; but there will
be much to learn an syste Matte le-
fore they succeed. In The first pllc e,
the mountains named by the Mazamas
along the crest line of The Cascades
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 I have seen Shasta from Diablo,
224 miles, and Whitney,, 222 miles.
But besides determining beforehand
the best lines to follow, q full eason
with we'll organized parties will be
necessary to determine the intervisible
line and that freest from clouds. The
latter is one of the great drawbacks
in the work Of the coast and geodetic
survey. Where a 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 sent little is known by &C
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 cver q
1S3-mile line in Arizona, lately repeat
ed by the signal corps of the army. l
have seen the heliograph signals 16O
miles with the naked eye in rare cases
of fine weather. Fer all the Eases Of
intervisibility 1 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 q mirror q little more than IL
inches square to give signals that will
be visible in 4 telescope of 3 inches OBJ
jective. With a mirror 10 inches
square I expect to see the signal with
the naked eye. Moreover, the charac-
ter of the mirror must be of the very
best plate glass and pure silver back
surface, with an additional reflector, If
the sun is behind the sender. There
is no part of the United States where
this experiment a be 81 we'll tried,
and tried successfully, as on this sea-
board, but it will take time, system
and organization to make a sure
thing Of it. The sooner the Mazamas
get the matter in line the sooner will
the successful season come"