The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1900-06-28
THE COST OF A CABLE.
Plans for One Across the Pacific
Beset with Difficulties.
Its Great Length and Cost VIII Prob
ably Deter Capitalists from
Undertaking the Laying
of IL,

III view VI tue toItSldllt ACTIVITY III
Atlantic cables which has resulted in
a new cable almost every two years
since the first successful cable in 1866
1T stands to reason, says Scribner's
Magazine, shat the difficulties offered
ny the Pacific ocean must be very great
close without a definite scheme fol-
spanning the Pacific by telegraph hav.
ing been adopted. The difficulties may
be summed up in few words: First.
the great cost of IA complete system
OF cables; second, the extreme depth
OF water known to exist in certain
parts of the Pacific and feared in 9TH
ers: third, the long distance between
landing points; and. fourth, the lack
of intermediate points having an ac-
tive trade The estimated cost of the
British Pacific cable, for a single cable
connecting Vancouver Mith Australia
and New Zealand, is placed at about
s1,000,O00, including two repairing
ships and sum of $4,000 for main
tenance of the cables for six months.
The president of one of the ca bic com
panies of New \ ork estimates the total
capital cost of cable to Japan. Aus
tralia and the Philippines via Hawaii
at 12,000,000. and the cost of mainte.
nance, including two repairing ships
and of operating expenses, at $500, 600
Il year.
1t is not considered that single
cable will be sufficient to insure per-
manent communication. and any
scheme for Pacific cable must pro-
vide eventually for duplicate cables
throughout the entire route, so that
the total capital cost of a thoroughly
reliable and efficient Pacific cable sys-
TEN may be put down at approximate.
~ $4,000, 900. which would include
two repairing ships, a reasonable
quantity of spare cable, and the
equipment of operating stations at
the various landing points.
One of the essential features of a
submarine cable is the speed of sig
Mailing. In operating long cables very
delicate instruments are required and
the currents arriving at the receiving
end are very feeble in comparison
with those employed in land-line sig.
mailing. The longer the cable. nat,
urally the feebler the impulses ar
irving at the receiving end. \ short
cable, cable of under 1000 miles be.
ing generally considered short cable
gives speed of signaling amply sum.
cent for all purposes. with con
ductor weighing about leo pounds tc
the mile, surrounded by an insulating
envelope of gutta percha weighing
about an equal amount. When we
come to cable of about twice this
length it is found necessary. in or
der to get 4 practically unlimited
speed, that is, a speed as high as the
most expert operator can read at, tc
employ core of $50 pounds of cop,
per to the mile, insulated with 406
pounds of gutta percha to the mile
These are the proportions of copper
and gutta pereha in the 1894 Anglo
American Atlantic cable. which is
considered the record Atlantic cable
for speed of working. and has been
worked, by automatic transmission
AT the rate OF some 4o-WOrdS MIN
ute.
The type of cable proposed for
the Vancouver Tanning section of the
British Pacific cable, as designed by
Lord Kelvin, is TO have core of 55.
pounds of copper, and 36s pounds
of gutta percha TO the mile. and is
calculated to give speed of - words
per minute over length of 356C
miles. 1t is not considered safe &c
adopt a very much heavier core than
this. for the reason that the weight
of the complete cable with core that
should weigh more than about hall
a ton to the nautical mile would be
SO great that picking il up for repaSs
from depth of 1900 fathoms would
be an extremely difficult and hazard
GUS operation.
The establishment of telegraphic
communication results in new WAYS
of doing business and opens up new
avenues of profitable endeavor The
electric current. like tha, sci alive