Evening star., 1909-03-07
PUTTING UP THE POLES
Trying to Establish Limited
Telegraph Service.
STRINGING FOUR WIRES
Several Hundred Linemen at Work
in Maryland.
TREES ALSO MAY BE UTILIZED
of Normal Conditions
Will Require Several
More Days.
TREES ALSO MAY BE UTILIZED

| That yesterday afternoons SnOwStorn
| would not retard the work of restoration
| of the telegraph and telephone service in
| the vicinity Of Washington, which was ut
| terly destroyed by the blizzard which
ragged during the night of March 3 and
the morning of March 4. was the opinion
expressed by the officers of the Western
| Union and Postal Telegraph companies
| last night.
| Although the snowfall amounted to lit
| tie in the city, beyond slight inconve-
| nence to those who were compelled to be
| On the streets while it was falling. 1t
was serious matter in the rural sections
in the vicinity of Washington. and the
| impression naturally prevailed that 1t
| would cause further delay to the tele-
graph and telephone companies.
| If the work of restoration had progress
| ed to any degree this might have been
the case, but so thorough was the demo-
| lition of the lines that the work that has
been done on them SO far is but a start
toward the work of completion, which
will require several days.
North and East Wires Down.
The wires to the south are still working
well, the only trouble being an occasional
crossed wire. which causes little trouble.
The wires north and east are completely
out of existence. as though they had never
been, and total reconstruction of the lines
is necessary before they can be used at
all.
Three four hundred men are at work
in Maryland for the two telegraph COM
panies. and many more for the tele
phone and lighting companies. The tele-
graph companies at present are working
for the quick establishment of limited
service. which will enable them to send
messages directly north instead Of send
ing them by roundabout route through
the south and west. To this end the re-
pair crews have been instructed to string
lines of four wires across the tops of the
cross arms of the telegraph poles as fast
as they are put UP, leaving the placing of
additional wires for later time.
If. along the line of work, poles cannot
be procured, the linemen have been in
structed to utilize tree trunks. This they
are doing, and the gangs which came in
from work last night after darkness had
put end to their laborS reported that
the extension of the wires over the de-
molished lines was advancing as rapidly
as possible under existing conditions.
Cannot Estimate Damage.
1t is still too early to estimate the dam
age that was done by the storm. In
speaking of this phase Of the question las.
night, Manager Tan Of the Western Upion
said:
What our losses have been will not be
known for at least a month. The de-
| struction of our lines within the storm
zone was so complete that it will require
close inspection> on the part of an ex-
pert to estimate it. A man will have to go
over the whole route in a wagon and re-
turn a detailed report.
''Of course we will know eventually how
much we lost in equipment, but how much
we lost in business that we could not
handle because Of the storm must always
remain a matter of conjecture. That is
what hurts"