The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-01-05
CANADA HAS 5000
] MILES OF WIRES
Each Year Sees Increase in Elk
tent of Telegraph and Cable
Systems.

i OTTAWA, Cam, Jan. 5.-Rhe Gan.
adian people today are the. owners OF
and sea cables built and operated with
their own money. =
] For years a good deal Of talk has
been heard about national ownership
of Geographic lines, and Sir William
Mulock, the postmaster general; Is the
conditions under which the properties
of the companies now doing business
in Canada can be acquired and oper-
ated by the government. Since Slr
William began his inquiry the value Of
the companiess' plants, holdings and
franchises has gone up enormously:
If the progress of Canada continues
at anything like it's present rate, the
difference between the price. at which
the lines could have been natSonalized a
few years after Sir William beca; ne
postmaster general in the Laurier adj
ministration and at which they may be
had, say ten years hence, is likely to be
50 great as to seriously handicap the
minister who may attempt to undertake
q naturalization scheme.
i In the meantime, the government has
been adding steadily to the mileage of
pecialIy is sending out offshootss in ev'
cry direction in the newly settled dis
tricts, where the private telegraph. com
panies have not found it sufficiently
profitable to build. In this way the
government is doing splendid work fol
immigration and settlement.
T. E. Many Lines Are Extended.
i The number of miles of government
lines constructed up to the close of last
year was 6,241, and the present yea1
vii see total mileage Of 6.5s st fully LILY
offices, 40 more than last year.
The government system may be de
scribed in a. general way as consisting
of three blocks. One connects Quebec
with station at the Atlantic end or
the north shore of the st. Lawrence ii
.bne direction, over eighty miles beyont
the Canadian boundary in Newfound
land, Labrador, at Chateau bay, oppo
site Belle isle, in the straits of Belle
isle. with a cable proceeding south
wardly by way of the island of Anti
cost and the Magdalen islands to Cape
Breton, and branches in Nova Scotia
and New Brunswick.
i Another is within the boundaries Of
the two great northwestern territories
of Assininiboia and Saskatchewan:
The third extends from the southern
section of British Columbia north some
distance beyond Dawson City in TIL
line to Port Simpson on the Pacif
coast below the Alaskan strip Of tn
limited States, and a spur to Aberdeen
s a point on the coast below Port Simp
son.
The latter place, it will be remem
bered, is the probable terminus Of tn
National Transcontin entail railway, til
western section of which is to be con
structed by the Grand Trunk Pacifi
railway, and the eastern by the Cana
dian government. The government lin
on the north shore of the St. Lawrence
Chateau bay, is over 1000 miles long
with not far short of 900 miles NOR
distributed between different parts o
the province of Quebec, in and aroun
+ the Magdalen islands and Anticost
Island, and connecting them with tn
mainland. In the maritime province
the government has constructed abou
500 miles Of telegraph lines. .
.-.-z wireless System Used.
The wireless telegraph system ha
been utilized by the government i
connection with it's land lines at VAR
Gus points in the Gulf of ST.. Lawrenc
and on the Atlantic coast. At Chatea
bay, the terminus of the North Shor
line, in Labrador Newfoundland tel
ritory) eighty-four miles from the poin
where Canadian jurisdiction ends, Their
~
communication is maintained wit
Belle Isle, in the straits of Belle isl,
The government cable, TWENTY-FIVE
miles, between the bay and island, wa
damaged by icebergs in June, and tn
wireless system, which previously ha
been installed, was put in requisitio
and found to work satisfactorily.
! The whole Of the land and cable telt
graph lines above enumerated have bee
constructed and operated by the publ
works department of the Dominion COY
eminent, but in connection with tn
wireless system the marine and fishegie
department has assisted in the estal
Jishment Of five Marconi, Thes
are situated at Cape Race, Newfount
I'd land, Belle Isle, Point Amour, Labr;
dor, Fame Point and Heath Point, Ant
$ COST, and they have handled lare
number of messages to and from ocea
steamships during the season Of ope
OaviUatiOn