Omaha daily bee., 1902-11-05
IN The FIELD OF ELECTRICITY
Distant Alaska to Be HitOhsd BY wir,
70 the Mainland.
PRoGRESsN MAKING ARTIFICIAL DIAMONDS
Wireless Telegraph station In Mid
Ocean-Treatment for EIec-
trio shOck-DeveIopment
In other Branches.

tric Observation-Disclosures
in other Branches.
Announcement is made by General A. W.
Greedy, chief signal officer Of the United
states army, that a complete system Of
telegraphlc communication covering the
more distant parts OF Alaska will be in
operation by March 1. 1903. Work is now
being rushed on the last two links which
will complete this great system, enabling
instant communication between any part
OF the world and Cape Nome over a tele-
graph system extending 5000 miles from
Puget Sound. These two remaining links
comprise a wireless telegraph line which
is now being installed between Nome and
st. Michaels. and a line being built up the
Tanana river valley from Fort Gibbons to
a connection with the line nearly completed
between Eagle on the upper Yukon and
Valdes on the seacoast. The wire is
strung along the ground for nearly half the
distance between Fort Gibbons and the
upper Tanana valley, and the poles are
being rapidly set. The wire will be strung
on them early in the fall. General Greedy
says the Vsldes-Eagle line will be In opera
tion the entire 400 miles across Central
Alaska by September 1. Thus the Copper
river valley will be connected by wire with
the outside world during the coming win
ter. The route Of messages from Nome to
Puget Sound will be as follows: From
Nome to st. Michaels by wireless telegra-
ply st. Michaels to Fort Gibbons by
overland lines; thence to a connection with
the Valdes-Eagle line; from Eagle to Daw-
son by an American line already in opera
ton; from Dawson to Vancouver via the
Dominion government line to Ashcroft, and
thence over the Canadian Pacific and Postal
wires. General Greedy says:
In a little more than Ave months we
hope to send messages from Washington
to Nome and receive an answer the same
day. This will be brought about by the
wireless system to be established between
Nome and st. Michaels, and by the COM
pletion OF a line OF wire up the Tanana
to connect with the line now under way
between Valdes and Eagle. We expect to
have a temporary wire from Fort Gibbons
and the Yukon system to connect with the
transalaska line by March 1. Two OF
three months later the permanent line
should be ready for use. The wireless sys.
tenn between Nome and st. Michaels will
obviate the necessity of continually repair,
ing the cable between the two places. Tn,
~ NAS - AAnS AhA0u ~ NdbF
Of keeping the cable in order. The dis.
lance to be bridged In building eastward
from Fort Gibbons to connect with tn,
Valdes Eagle line is about 260 miles. an
having three wireless stations placed In tn,
first $50 miles. The frequency OF the sta,
tions necessary lessons the distance be
tween each two and increases the proba
bility Of satisfactory communication I
wireless telegraphy proves all that is ex,
pected OF It nc part Of the world will b.
more benefited by the introduction Of tn,
system than Alaska, because Of the grea
distances to be traversed, the severity o
the climate and the few settlements whicl
exist compared with the vast area. Sucl
a method of communication will be a ma
terial factor in the rapid settlement Of on,
northern possession"
The new military cable between Junea,
and Skagway. about 100 miles long, brok,
in two a fortnight ago, soon after It hat
been accepted by the government. A wind
storm on lynn canal caused the waves L
roll high. The cable was apparently move,
to and fro across the Jagged rocks an,
sawed in two. General Greedy has ordere-
officers of the signal service at San Fran
cisco to repair the cable without delay.
Diamonds by Electricity.
1t is generally known tina M. Moissan
the French chemist, has succeeded in pro
ducing diamonds artihcially. They are yer
small, but they are the genuine article. s
far no one has discovered a means of pro
ducing the gem on any scale likely to affec
the future Of DeBeers, but IL we are to con
clude from the statement Of a writer in tn
st. James Gazette that contamination is no
unlikely to be reached in the near future
One Of the most important industries car
ried on at Niagara Falls, says the Bosto
Transcript, is the manufacture Of carborun
dum-a crystal gen., red and sparkling lk
a ruby. and nearly as hard as a damon
itself. 1t has been found that portions G
this product, when taken from the furnace
consist OF graphite. Now, graphite Is pur
carbon, and very nearly related to the dia
mond-a mineral which has been found 1
mines for thousands Of years. but had neve
} before been made by human agency. IL
one thing. Of course, to approach a give
goal and another to attain 1t, but z. {
Acheson, the inventor OF the c~arborunduI
process. has achieved such remarkable re
suits In the production Of that crystal ths
II seems possible to credit him with almo!
anything in the future. He tells us tha
/ there are two elements required to make
ulduuOuu-uthl anu pIObouIcs blcClIAClIy 10
t provided the former and M. Moissan OF
t tanned the latter by dropping his crucibI
5 with it's fluid mass OF coke-dust and molte
I iron into cold water. The instantaneou
. cooling OF the iron on coming into contaC
with the water supplied the requisite pre'
: sure, and the carbon was thus crystalline
and became a diamond. What remains Il
the American man of science is to discovC
the means of applying the pressure in sue
I a way as to make the production OF the dis
0 mond a commercial possibility.
z II was as a result OF his attempts to pr
q duce artificial diamonds that Mr.. Achesc
d discovered carborundum. The writer Of Il
> article tells that he had begun his exper
> ments as early as 1880, but had come to
: stop because the instruments at his dispos
q did not keep pace with his ideas. He begs
Il work again with the help Of an improv'
dynamo, which furnished him with an ele,
: trio current capable OF producing a temper
aure Of $500 degrees Fahrenheit. CarbC
= fused with clay at that temperature al
= then allowed to cool would, he hoped, pr
. duce diamond. 1t produced instead a beaut
full red crystal, hard enough to scratch gla
I, and even the diamond itself. Mr.. Aches'