Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1906-11-09
IcELAND.s IsoLArIoA ...lnno.


OuANAut hNitt
The establishment OF telegraphie
communication with Iceland and Fa
roe is now an accomplished fact, and
is an event Of no little importance to
the commercial community not only
Of Scandinavia. but also of Great Bri
tain. This country has long had in
innate relations with these remote
possessions OF Denmark, relations
which are likely to increase as the
direct result Of the electric link which
has now bound them TO the rest Of
the civilized world To realize how
far removed Farce and Iceland arc
from the ordinary channels Of com
munication II is only necessary to
mention that Farce lies In a north
westerly direction from the north OF
Shetland, a distance OF 215 miles.
while Iceland is further distant still
from Farce by $40 miles. the total
distance Of the latter from the ex-
treme north Of Scotland being thus
more than $50 miles,
As the ordinary means of commu-
nication is by steamer from Leith
and Copenhagen, the passage thither
is necessarily a protracted one, and
many things may happen in either
place before a letter can go through
the ordinary course Of transmission.
In certain circumstances a reply fron'
ReykiayiS. the capital Of Iceland
would take about three months, prac-
tically the same as from the United
Kingdom to Australia. To such re
mote community, therefore, the tells.
graph must come as no ordinary boon
lit is an event, indeed, in its history
Of momentous and far reaching con
sequence. Denmark and Iceland have
put the scheme through When the
new system of wireless telegraphJ
was so far perfected as to be success
! fully worked at long distances il was
| suggested that Communication by
this means alone could be obtained
with Iceland and might be sufficient
! This. in fact. was actually accom-
/ plished. On June &c, 1905, Iceland
was partially at least put into con-
muniCation with the outer world BY
means of the Marconi system Of wire.
less telegraphy. The messages were
sent from one of the Marconi stations
in the north of Scotland, but the az.
| paratus at Reykjavik was Only able
to receive the messages. not 20 send
them.
The cable proceeds from the Shet
land Islands to Thorshayn, the bis.
gest town in the Farce Islands, and
from there goes direct to the eaz'
coast Of Iceland, from which an over.
land line will be eaF=--s--e Keyhia-
vlk. the capital OF Iceland, which line
will also touch several smaller Ice
landic towns 1t was found that the
most suitable place to land the Shet
land end of the cable was at Lerwick
a small bay or the west side Of th'
islands, near Scalloway. The work o
laying the cable from Shetland tC
Farce was begun in July of this year
by the telegraph steamer Cambrian.
4 At 4.5O o-ciucN on the morning OF
tiOns were made. and at 5.3S a M
Mr.. Stout, the postmaster of Lerwick,
Shook hands with Thorshavn, and
the remote Farce Islands were
brought into teiegFaphic communiea.
tiOn with the rest OF the world The
Cambrian thereafter proceeded to the
laying of the cable from Farce to Ice.
land This task was successfully
completed on Saturday, August %,
when communication was established
between Seydisfjord and Shetland
The construction OF the land wire
from Seydisfiord to Reykjavik Is be
ing proceeded with Seyd!sfjord ir a
town with about 1900 inhabitants.
Reykjavik has a population Of abctd
1000 AS the distance between these
two towns is about ESQ miles. and az
the roads are practically only brit g
paths, the only means of commune.
tion is by horse, the journey occupg.
ing from two to three weeks. A tele-
graph line between the two towrs
will therefore be Of immense advan.
tage Telephone lines will be used ii
1 Iceland to connect the smaller t0wnl
with the main telegraph line. and th
telephone win also by utilized in Fa
roe for the same purpose. Il is ex-
pected that the land wire win be
completed by The end Of this month
The cost of telegraphng 10 Faroe
from this country is five and a halt
pence word and to Iceland eight
and half pence a word.
The director of the Meteorological
onlee, London, has arranged with the
Danish Government for the trans.
mission, from October l. Of daily
weather report from Iceland, which,
It is believed, will be of much rse for
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