Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1914-01-27
|GVenl06 Char

With the passing of the poles and
overhead wires from the streets in the
business section of the city some in
teresting bits of the history of the
installation of the overhead system
are recalled. Some of the poles that
nave been RACED are more than twenty
years old; for instance, the towering
Gh Gmesahat that stood in front of the
Dauphin Deposit Trust Companys
building at Court and Market streets
was nearly twenty-three years old. At
Fourth and Market and near the en-
trance to Union Station are a couple
OF poles which have little history all
tnelr own. They were part of the
great raft Of thousands and thousands
ot pine logs that were brought from
the shores Of Nova Scotia to Philadel-
phia by sea years ago. Newspapers
and magazines were full of the daring
undertaking which holds its place
among the stories of the New England
coast. The plan Of building these logs
into giant raft and floating and tow
ing 1t to the ports of the United States
was conceived by Canadian lumber
man. Two attempts were made, the
nrst OF which was disastrous. The
Atlantic took a hand and kicked up a
real tempest off the coast of Cape Cod
thousands of valuable pine logs were
scattered to the seas. Most of these
pores were made from Canadian pines
A rev OF this character are still in use
IN this section. although the Canadian
trees now serving that purpose are
usually cedar. The Harrisburg Light
and Power Company specialized on
great poles and it's lines were often
commented upon. While there are a
rev poles imported from Canada, the
chestnut trees. straight, tough and en-
curing, are more generally used in
these parts; as rule they are cut on
the northern slopes of the mountains
near by. Fifty-five-foot heights are
the more serviceable and more gen.
orally used. The chestnut are really
remarkable for their endurance, as
was peculiarly demonstrated when the
big pole at Court and Market streets
was torn down. The outer shell was
rotted to some extent, but the heart
itse1 was as sound and tough as If it
had never helped carry the burden of
wires across the city's business section
since 1890
Some of the drivers of laundry
wagons in Harrisburg are men of re-
source and. while the manner of their
handling their business may be little
startling to the average citizen, they
neVertheiess produce results. Every
Monday is still wash day. in Harris
burg as it was 100 years ago. Conse.
quently the laundry wagons are piled
hlgh, especially those which make a
speciality of family washing, by the
pound. Yesterday two wagons passed
along Third street which showed that
the laundry business was prospering.
one contained seven bundles to the
roof, while the other, bulged with
frnr,, he
pied with bales and sheets stuffed
with things" were hung on each side.
state officials are just now sitting
up nights wondering how they are GO
ing to get home to play politics, be-
cause this is a year when everyone
connected with State, county, city or
any other kind Of government, be he
Republican, Democrat Bull Moose,
Socialist or Prohibitionist, is going To-
play politics this year because either
the JOB he holds or that of his chief
depends upon it. If they go home and
play politics because either the Job he
holds or that of his chief depends upon
II. II they go home and play politics
the fellows who want their Jobs will
say that they are doing it on State
time, and If they do not their friends
may be beaten and it might react on
them. What am I going to do about
IL! asked one man yesterday when he
was twltted about playing politics.
why, I'm going home to vote. It's
going to be case of whether [ hold
on or whether a Democrat or Bull
Mooser gets my job
Governor Tener gave even the golf
enthusiasts of the city a jolt yesterday
when he went out and played golf on
the Country Club links at Lucknow.
Ihe Governor was accompanied by
Secretary Gather and also by Secre-
tary or the Commonwealth Robert
McAfee, who is in danger of becoming
a recruit. The Governor played golf
the first week of the year and plans to
keep 1t up. He says he would like to
see Mr.. McAfee start.
Louis Z. Houseal, a member of the
Citizen Fire Company, No. 8, has pre-
pared a typewriter record of the
work of the Harrisburg Fire Depart
ment during 1913, which Is a clever
piec of work and a very useful one.
1t has thirteen pages, giving the
names. numbers and location Of the
Inherent companies and the date of
organization of each; the apparatus
in use in the department, with the
number of paid men. drivers, ETC., }
ter of apparatus used by each COM
pany. One section gives the amount
Of hose in possession of different COM
panies and in reserve. Chief engineers
Of the department since 1868 are given
and following that comes a complete
record of the 102 box alarms and 10
telephone calls during the year, with
figures for 1912. The
character of the buildings in which
the fires occurred is shown, as is also
the number of box alarms on each
day of the week for the twelve
months of the year. At the end is a
page containing the number and loca-
ton of the fire alarm boxes of the
city. AS a matter of record it will be
valuable.
l,WSELs slInO own >pe0PleSl
H r. Fehr the Eastou fraction