Milford chronicle. [volume] (Milford, Del.) 1878-1974, 1895-05-10
LONG DISTANCE SIGNALING.
A scheme For Sending Telegraph Mes
saees From Washington State 70 Mexico.

A Scheme For Sending Heliograph Mes
sages From Washington State 70 Mexico.
The Mazamas Of Portland, if they can
secure the assistance Of any Of the uniyor-
isity and scientific organizations, military
signal corps OF athletic and outing CLUBS
along tho coast win cndeavor TO send a
I heloqraph message from Washington 20
Mexico. Tho Aia1anas ara club OF
mountain climbers at Portland, Or, and
havo selected July 10 next as tho date for
4 the transmission Of the sun flashes They
Twill begin signaling from Mount Adams
iusing the Morse system for the purpose
n Brook White, secretary Of the Mazamas,
has recently organized classes in Portland,
which have begun the preliminary study
and work necessary to the successful ma
lnipulation of the instruments.
If successful, 1t viii be the longest dis
lance a message has ever been transmitted
by sun flashes. Tho Mazamas have invit-
ed tire government officers and various
stnts military organizations to arrange
details Professor Davidson Of the coast
and gcodetic survey, who has had consider
able experience III transmitting hello
graphic messages. was asked last night If
he Thought tho Aiazanas undertaking
could be successfully accomplished He
said;
"Professor S S. Hawkins of Portland,
formerly Of the University q California
has written to me TO interest me in this
matter and have been preparing letter
in answer thereto. OF course the subject
presented by the Mazamas or mountain
goats il a very interesting one, and some
season it may be accomplished, but there
will be much TO learn and systematic be-
fore they succeed.
"In the first place the mountains named
bv tho Mazamas along the crest line of the
Cascades and Sierra Nevada arc not in all
cases interyisible For example, south Of
Shasta tho line adopted by the coast end
ge6detic survey is Shasta, Lassen, tdttei
Lola, Round Top, Conness and possibly
Whitney, or by another route, Shasta,
Snow mountain Mount Helenas Mount
Diablo and possibly Whitncy ] am con
WINGED that 1 have seen Shasta from d.
ablo, pa miles, and Whitney, 222 miles.
But besides deternlining beforehand the
best lines to follow a fun season with well
organized parties viii be necessary TO de-
termine the intervisible line and that
freest FROM clouds The latter is one Of
the great drawbacks in the work Of the
coast and geodetio survey. Where sta
tion could readily DO finished in IS days,
the parties have some timo been fighting
for sights through two months and more.
CAS- to the distance to which these sig
mails may be sent little is known by actual
experience outside the coast and geodetic
survey, which has used them over line
Of 1872 miles-Mount Helena to Mount
Shasta-and over a 1873 mile line in Arizona
lately repeated by the signal corps Of the
army. have seen the Photograph signals
100 miles with the naked eye in rare cases
of fine weather. For all the cases of inter
visibility 1 have got out a formula deter
mining the size of the mirror for any dis
lance. In example, the line from Diablo
to Shasta requires a mirror a littlo more
than 1 inches square TO give signals that
viii be visible in telescope of three
inches objective With a mirror 20 inches
square 1 expect to see the signal with the
naked eve. Moreover, the character Of the
mirror must be Of the very best plate glass
and pure silver back surface with an ad-
ditional reflector, if the sun is behind the
sender.
"There is no part Of the United States
where this experiment can be SO well tried,
and tried successfully, as on this seaboard,
but it viii take time, system and organi-
cation to make a sure thing Of it. The
sooner the Alazamas get the matter IN line
the sooner viii the successful season
come. San Francisco Chronicle.