The daily morning Alaskan., 1900-03-01
EFFECTS OF FROST
 ON IHEGRAPH WIRES
In the Yukon Basin It Con- tracts Thirty Inches.
WIRES AT MINTO CUT
Thought to Have Been the Work of the Clay.on Murdorers-six Foot ofIt Carried Away.

Sup,. J. B. ShlrleSon and party of tele- graph line constructors leave this morning for Bennett, whence they will push on 10 Atlin. Accompanying Mr. Charleson Is J. C. Rochester. who will oversee the movements Of affairs on the entire Atlin' Quesnelle line as they pr greSS at various points. Mr. Rochester Is under Mr. Ch,rlsSol who will remain with the Atlln crew.
 JlmeS Little. a hilf breed, who has been tn the Atlin district and over the proposed route of the telegraph line a good distance, has been sent forward id charge Of party comprising besides himself two Indian plthGnlerS from Eastern Canada and a white mn. They are Q make a gensral selection oi The route. and to report 10 Mr. Chaflsson. who will follow later and with tne .il of hiS engineer make the exact l,,liiJn ot the line.
 "l clrr little for the aid Of a surveyor or sngineer." says Mr. Chlrl-Sln, ''in the construction of a telegraph line. | can uS1allv survey a good commonplace route with my eyes pTettv well.
 "ln building the Atlin QueSnelle line we shall. in ir1v-rSing forest country, cut a Swl,h twelve feet wide. Large trees and sml., wi.l be SllShet, and nothing will De leit s,iut.ng ,hl, will prove menace to Che line. Whenever possible good stand ms trees will be utilized for telegraph p0ss.
 "The wire Co be used Is No galyan- il.t steel, the SameaS Is used in the Ben rett-DIW Sln-Atiin system. |, Is a good wire, and the breaks that have occurred m the system have not been the result of uS- .ag r55y w.re, eut having tSo little slaCk to the Inc a, some places. The fault for tte late sll,k lies on the shoulders of the slto-5inl,s>. instructed them 10 give Sx feet of Slck Co every mile of wire. They tiI no, follow instructions and the result wls the line was too tight at places Co stand the extreme tension under the srelt c0.L The giving of more slack would have meant ;he hanging of a ,iife more w.re and therefore the carving Of a few mo,e soils of wire on the part of some one Who evidently eliminated the trouble,
 "ln the construction of the Atlin branch my orders fer the hanging of wire with six fec, of slack were strictly observed and not break occurred on that br1nth this winter.
 "The severe sold weather and the ire luent intermittent warm and damp wea- thsr oi the Yukon basin keeps the verv ilb;i, ot the wire working in the process of ton,rlction and expansion 80 that if be- comeS crvs,alizei and brittle under the sold and IS far more liable to Snlp, The wire contracts two and one-hllf feet per mile in ,he Yukon basin. recently had a letter from Capt. Abercrombie. U. 5. A.. who Is Co buili the Valtsz-E Eagle line, h. curing aS Co the contraction and expansion of wires in our Yukon system.
 "Ogr wiieS near Minto were cut several times presumably by the murtererS of the Clyson party. In one instance six feet of wire was taken out Had ii not happened tha, ws had jus, left an extra coil of wire in one of the nearby stations we would hove been in serious need of a plece for making the repairs.
 'Frfleen or twenty telegrapherS will be needed on the Atlin Qu=>nelle line. l have four with me in the construction party"