Jamestown weekly alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1882-1925, 1903-12-24
the .DCT0@ AURORA
! How / Il was hltcbed TO Restbero
aPacific' t1lasssth
wiees,

"A Minneapolis paper has an ascount
by Supt Green of the. Northern Ractfic
telegraph system 6tShe effect % the
company 's,wires, kthaaurora bsrealis
that spread ovah,zahe- northern sky
Oct. 31st, last. Mr. n.sGreen says that
the wires OF the company for 6O0smiles
from the twin cities tolDickinsoo were
for eight ,heurs rendessd useless as,far
as any batteries or artificial agencies
were kconoerned, ,blRt that naessages
were transmitted overthe above edis-
,tance by means of tt,eaatural current
which charged the wires directly tfrom
the earth. Many wtl aamember that
the aurora was very ,bfilliant' The
air was 50 heavily charged, with se'ec-
tricity that 1t was necessary to dis
connect the batteries hut the tele-
graphers found they stillhada a ciroalit,
a current attached t0anaurora bore.
alis. Mr.. Green adds
.s'Wolt measurements vAWere taken.
The extreme capacity OF .the jnsarE-
ment. is 400 volts. ,Sometof the waves
went to the limit of the ,instrument,
and ), We were unable to determine
their strength,
"The energy from the earth currents
came, in waves OF about three minutes,
duration, whicheontinuedw with rhytal-;
mic regularity. They :sMang from
negative to positive polarity, and att
the maxinm of positive polarity we
! received and transmitted messages to-
Dickinson with ease.
"The force Of the. natural current
!, was at least equalto the artificial cleo
! trio energy required to operate rail
!, way and cOmmeriea. wires.
''Our. observation confirmed the
theory that wires iBunnine east and
west are !. nore affected by .tclluric
, waves than.those ruaning north and
ssouth. This and other symptoms in
dicate that the direction Of the .s7aves
lis in. a northerly diEeotion."
Anosher account OF the eventsays:
"a strange :hing was noted. The
telegraph wires Indicated "open wires"
when they were closed, and woold re-
:maia closed, when it was known that
the wiae was peen. FiEs. flashed from
,the switchboard, giving sout electric
sparks. "a inch Ia length. The kxht-
ming arpesters were burnsn out.
The tests made by Mr.. RudiGel&e,
the Qper,&or at. MickinsQn, would An-
dictate That the >Rery eanAre OF the
storm lay between Jamestown and
Fargo.
From Ja&estowsawest the. strength
gradually decreased ,iuntil tGlendiSe
was reached. West 4of that it was
quite feeble, but stiN.strong epough to
prevent the successful working Of the
quadrpplex system. East OF flames
town the force increased until the
maximum,was ,seache hedabetweenEa largo
and Valley City.
The waves Of electricity weae. as
Mr.. Rndiselle, describes 1t, as clearly
marked and as easily follewed as the
waves that roll in 6r0m the .Atlantic
during the haight6 a st0rm, rising
higher and higher with ipcueased fAry
sntil the height was reached then ne
,ceding as gradually a&they had Gomez
Mr.. Greene also states that the
electric storm Eas the most severe
since 1875. Other reports ofithe phe-
nomena from other ,paEtSOf the globe
show the storm to have been world
wide. Wires were affected in .nany
parts Of the world, England, France,
Australia and the first country where
the disturbance was noted was in the
West Indies where the lines gave way.
The cause of the aurora and the
waves of electricity are believed to he
due to the great sun spots, disturb
ances in the body Of that planet which
always are followed by electrical dis
turbanees on earth. The aurot1 is
electrical currents travelling along the
air making 1t luminous.