Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1907-11-28

systems are tautening things up" for |
winter. The season of menace for |
them is at hand. Before another |
month wind and snow and sleet and |
ice win have put an embargo on the |
work of track layers and line build |
ers. and the emergency men will be
on constant duty. Each year our
North American winter costs the rail
roads and the telephone and tele-
graph companies hundreds of thous-
ands Of dollars. and when we have a
season of the good old-fashioned
kind the damage runs up into the
millions. II 1t were not for remark
able organization and ingenuity the
annual loss, not alone to those who
operate public service but to those
who depend upon it hourly in bust
ness and personal life. would greatly
exceed even these enormous figures.
SO late every autumn while the
last OF the esason's construction work
is being nurried through before frost
comes. there is general overhaul
Ing. Busy gangs are set to work re
building the snow sheds along the
railways, tightening bolts and braces
on the bridges, renewing whatever
shows sign of wear and tear which
might prove disastrous in stress OF
storm. And the construction men of
the telephone companies, in one place
finishing up new lines to give commu-
nication to some corner of the world
hitherto inaccessible by wire, or to in
crease the already thick clustering
wires are. in another place. resetting
poles. tightening guys, renewing Ca
BILE, restringing circuits, or whatnot,
10 resist as far as human ingenuity
can the strain of the hard months to
come.
Since the days Of the pioneers there
has been no more picturesque life,
perhaps, than that of the telephone
line builders. II Is a curious mixture
OF gypsy wandering and the most ex.
acting sort of practical work with
I such ingenius and perfect tools as
few industries employ. Hardy, rough
anSr9ady fellows, these diggers, who
prepare the holes into which poles are
to be set; the gamers who strip the
big timbers of their bark and fit the
cross-arms to their places; the pole
settlers who swing the big tapering
sticks into upright position; the bank
ers who press the earth closely about
the base of the pole until IL stands
firm and true; and the wire stringers
who, with their strange looking reel
wagons. pull the strands OF hard
draw copper over the cross arms
where the linemen attach them skill
fully to the insulators. There is
small army of them several thou
sand in all-constantly moving about
the country. living here In hotels and
boarding houses, there in tents, and
yonder In trains of cars that amble
obligingly across the open country.
careless of roadbed, rails or locomo-
tiyes. even of the highways ordinary
wheel traffic seeks,
Naturally, IL is In the great expan-
SEES of the west-especial'y of the
northwest and the southwest--that
the telephone construction car has
come into use. For miles and miles
there the communicating lines are
carried through prairie and desert
where there Is scarcely habitation
and almost never fit hostelry. The
horses required for the heavier con
struction work also give motive power
for the crews living quarters. There
are sleeping cars. with double tiers
OF hunks on either side and railway
lamps swinging above the aisles be-
tween; dining cars, with cooks gal.
lery in one end and In the other a
long table that serves for feasting,
and. In the evening hours, for the
gatherings OF good fellowship; and
tool ears-all low set, broad tired
vehicles, heavy but not too hard of
draught.
To meet emergencies promptly and
efficiently the Bell system has an or
ganization little known but remark
able in completeness and mobility. II
would be neither economical nor
otherwise feasible to keep large
number OF big emergency crews In
waiting. for there is never any tell
ing where trouble" is going to strike
next. But in It's regular forces--some-
thing more than half OF the $4,000
employees are men-~the Bell system
has already at all hours expert work
.ers who can be hurried anywhere
there is need 10 augment the local
trouble men" in time OF an unusual
demand The American Telephone
and Telegraph company, which oper-
ates the national long distance serv-
ice. and therefore has plants all over
the United States. maintains store
houses in about fifty OF the largest
cities, and these serve as emergency
headquarters, in addition to the pro
visions made by each of the subsid!-
airy companies TO take care OF Its own