Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1908-07-24
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While the sheets Of ice into which
nature turns the Alaska rivers in win
ter permitted the service to use these
streams for packing trains in hauling
equipment for stations and lines, the
workmen were continually menaced by
the storms which sweep down the val
leys. The Alaskan storm Is blizzard
in violence. Usually the snow falls in
a sand like powder that Is driven In
masses, and in an hour may drift to
the height Of man. With the mer-
curry a score Of degrees below zero hu-
man life cannot exist exposed to one
Of these blizzards. There have been
times when a line squad have been
kept prisoners for week or more In
the clump Of trees where they have
sought refuge to save themselves from
such river storm.
The sight Of a glacier spanned by
telegraph poles can be seen out In the
Tanana country. In q number Of places
1t has been necessary for the signal
service men to turn into mountaineers
to accomplish their purpose, for the
lowest pass in a range may be thou
sand feet above the line Of perpetual
snow. This means hard work and
plenty Of it.
No poles can be cut on the ground,
because no forest are at this attitude;
so the poles must be hauled from the
valley below up the slopes with ropes
carried on the shoulders. The site for
the pole may be an ice covered rock In
which a hole must be blasted. AS the
movement Of the glaciers Is very slight,
the lines can be built over them as
durably as on the solid earth.
One Of the largest sections Of the
military telegraph in Alaska Is along
the Mississippi Of the territory-the
Yukon. AS this stream rises rapidly
when in flood, one of the most diff
cult tasks Of the service Is to keep the
line in repair AS it is, long stretches
are frequently carried away by fresh
cts.
Such an accident happened in the
spring Of 1907. A rapid rise In the
Yukon broke the thick Ice into cakes
and sent them swirling seaward, car
rying away trees and shrubbery and
crumbling away the river bank. over
one hundred miles Of telegraph was
destroyed by the ice projectiles, which
broke off the poles like so many splin-
ters Of wood or tore them out Of the
earth.
The communication by wireless tel
egraphy in the territory has been very
successful The messages are sent
with apparatus much Of which has been
designed by experts in the services.
Messages sent over 100 miles have
been received clearly and distinctly.
For this reason it is intended to en-
large the wireless system and avoid
the arduous work in setting poles and
stretching wire.
Plans have been made for wireless
installation with a view to furnishing a
complete chain Of wireless stations
from Safety Harbor to the mainland OF
the United States. In entering upon
this plan the army has co-operated
with the projected plans Of the navy.
Money has been appropriated for
the construction Of station at Fort
Gibson to connect the existing wireless
stations at Safety and st. Michael with
the proposed naval station at Valdez
and thence via the proposed station at
Sitka to Tatoosh Island, off the en-
trance Of Puget Sound, and to San
Francisco. This will ultimately give a
complete chain of wireless stations
supplementing the present land line
and cable system from Norton Sound
to the United States.
To supplement this system and to
reach other points in eastern Alaska
the signal corps has now in process or
installation two wireless stations, one
at Fairbanks and one at Circle City.
These stations are about 14O miles
apart and are designed to have ra-
dius Of action OF about $50 miles. The
instrumental equipment has been pur-
chased and built, the electric power be-
ing derived from a gasolene engine.
The antennae, or wires, are to be sus-
pended by the use Of steel towers 175
feet in height. The establishment OF
these permanent stations should ena-
BILE communication to be maintained II
desired with boats on the Yukon river
as well as with smaller outlying sta
tions and camps by using portable
fields sets.