Telegraph Hill

“ Just where the road bends, and, crossing the railway, begins to climb Clayton Hill, the Gothic, battlemented entrance to Clayton Tunnel looms with a kind of scowling picturesqueness, well suited to its dark history, continually vomiting steam and smoke, like a hell’s mouth.
Above it rises the hill, with telegraph-poles and circular brick ventilating-shafts going in a long [Pg 232] perspective above the chalky cutting in the road; and on the left hand the little rustic church of Clayton, humbly crouching under the lee of the downs. ”

“ It seemed as though a great and valued friend lay at the point of death.
The submarine hill, with its dangerous slope, was passed in safety, and the 'telegraph plateau,' nearly two miles deep, was reached, when suddenly the signals from Ireland, which told that the conductor was intact, stopped altogether. Professor Morse and De Sauty, the electricians, failed to restore the communication, and the engineers were preparing to cut the cable, when quite as suddenly the signals returned, and every face grew bright. ”

“ These animals are large and fierce; they do not go in packs, like the smaller and more cowardly breeds of wolves, but in pairs, or, at most, six together. A pair of them will attack a man even when he is mounted, and lucky is he if he is well armed and cool enough to despatch one before it fastens its fangs in his horse's throat or his own thigh.
As the brave girl ran, she cast about for some means of escape or place of refuge. She decided to run to the railroad track and climb a telegraph pole—a feat which, owing to her free life on the ranch, she was perfectly capable of. ”

“ But to an American no praise is so dear as that which comes from his own countrymen. First of all to Mr. Field, was that which came from the faithful few who had stood by him and witnessed his exertions for twelve long years. At the first annual meeting of the stockholders of the New York, Newfoundland, and London Telegraph Company, the following resolution was, on motion of Mr. Moses Taylor, seconded by Mr. Wilson G. Hunt, unanimously adopted:
Whereas, This Company was the first ever formed for the establishment of an Atlantic Telegraph ”

“ But it is not in human nature—least of all in American nature—to despond long. Though ten years of constant defeat would seem to have wrought a lasting discouragement, yet again and again did the baffled spirit of enterprise return to the attempt. In January, 1864, Mr. Field was once more on his way to England. He found the Directors, as before, deeply interested in the enterprise, and wishing it success. With a grateful heart he bore witness to their unfaltering courage. But mere courage and good wishes would not lay the Atlantic Telegraph. ”

“ Nothing can exceed the antagonism that lies between truth and the system of superstition which is the subject of the foregoing paper. Root, trunk, branches and leaves there is not the smell of truth to be found on it. It is plainly opposed to truth and truth is opposed to it. It is opposed by the truth of history, the truth of science, the truth of “animated nature,” social truth, political truth and spiritual truth. All truth tends directly to its destruction. A little boy was one day listening to a missionary who was endeavoring to explain to him the workings of the magnetic telegraph. ”

“ There was nothing that was really reliable and worthy of being seriously thought of but a telegraph line. This Harry believed to be feasible.
He did not think it would cost very much. If this telegraph line only extended across the creek, not more than half a mile of wire, at the utmost, would be required.
Nothing need be expended for poles, as [Pg 127] there were tall pine-trees on each side of the creek that would support the wire; and there were two cabins, conveniently situated, in which the instruments could be placed. ”

“ Introduced about 1781 on the Leeds and Newcastle road, there were two others in Yorkshire, and in 1805 and 1811 “New Telegraph” and “Telegraph” coaches were on the Brighton Road. In the ’twenties a “Southampton Telegraph,” a “Manchester Telegraph,” and a “Reading Telegraph” flourished; while beyond all others in their fame and exploits were the immortal “Exeter Telegraph,” started in 1826 by Mrs. Ann Nelson, of the “Bull,” Aldgate, to travel the 173 miles between Piccadilly and Exeter in 17 hours, and the “Manchester Telegraph” day coach of 1833, doing 180 miles in 18 hours. ”

“ Cyrus W. Field recalls attention to the great enterprise with which his name will be forever associated. "The Atlantic Telegraph," said the late Chief Justice Chase, "is the most wonderful achievement of civilization, and entitles its author to a distinguished rank among public benefactors. High upon that illustrious roll will his name be placed, and there will it remain while oceans divide, and telegraphs unite, mankind." The memory of such an achievement the world should not let die. The story of its varied fortunes reads like a tale of adventure. ”

“ Hazel remarked.
"Uh-huh. That's the famous Telegraph Trail," Bill answered. "Runs from Ashcroft clear to Dawson City, on the Yukon; that is, the line does. There's a lineman's house every twenty miles or so, and an operator every forty miles. The best thing about it is that it furnishes us with a sort of a road. And that's mighty lucky, for there's some tough going ahead of us."
So long as they held to the Telegraph Trail the way led through fairly decent country. In open patches there was ample grazing for their horses. ”

“ The public that glances casually at the telegrams of their morning papers does not often realise the importance of a few minutes to the correspondents whose work they are reading. In this case, besides the ordinary delay, the lonely riders that were making way across the veldt had to spur them on the risk of finding the Field Telegraph repaired before they could reach the Diamond City, and the cable blocked with messages sent over their heads from Bloemfontein. ”

“ Then they put more coaches on his train and put my engine on to help him, thus saving a crew's wages. Passenger service increased [Pg 40] steadily until a big snow-slide in one of the gulches shut up the road. I'll never forget that slide. It happened on the 26th of January. 'Lige and I were double-heading on nine coaches of passengers and when on a heavy grade in Alder Gulch, a slide of snow started from far up the mountain-side, swept over the track just ahead of us, carrying trees, telegraph poles and the track with it. ”

“ We may fairly claim that, from first to last, Cyrus W. Field has been more closely identified with the Atlantic Telegraph than any other living man; and his name and his fame, which the Queen of Great Britain has justly left to the care of the American government and people, will be proudly cherished and gratefully honored. We are in daily use of the fruits of his labors ”

“ Even now there is some danger in penetrating to some of the wilder parts of the interior of Australia without a skilful guide, who knows where water can be found, and deaths from thirst in the Bush are not infrequent.
One device has saved many lives. The wildest and loneliest part of the continent is traversed by a telegraph line, which brings the European cable-messages from Port Darwin, on the north coast, to Adelaide, in the south. Men lost in the Bush near to that line make for its route and cut the wire. ”

“ ANOTHER body of self-sacrificing and efficient men are the telegraphers and their linesmen of the Canadian North, on a line known as the Yukon Telegraph Trail. They exist in cabins, forty miles apart. ”

“ Gisborne, any more than with others who were eager to appropriate it.
It is a part of the history of great enterprises, that the moment one succeeds, a host spring up to [Pg 14] claim the honor. Thus when, in 1858, the Atlantic Telegraph seemed to be a success, the public, knowing well who had borne the brunt and burden of the undertaking, awarded him the praise which he so well deserved; but instantly there were other Richmonds in the field. Those who had had no part in the labor, at least claimed to have originated the idea! Of course, these many claims destroy each other. ”

“ When the “Overland Telegraph” was built across the Australian continent from sea to sea, a clear broad avenue two chains wide, was cut for it through bush and scrub and dense forests, along the backbone of Australia, and in this avenue the line party was “born” and bred—a party of axemen and mechanics under the orders of a foreman, whose duty it is to keep the “Territory section” of the line in repair, and this avenue free from the scrub and timber that spring up unceasingly in its length. ”

“ Those lines are free to transmit any messages that may be forwarded on them. But the complaint seems to be, that at the points where the operations of the Western Telegraph cease, whether it be east, north, or west, the messages are not forwarded by the Western Telegraph, but they are, by the means used, diverted from those lines, and sent by circuitous routes, or at least by lines of increased length. ”

“ By their chartered rights the new Company obtained the exclusive privilege for fifty years of landing cables on Newfoundland and Labrador, which embraces a coast extending southwardly to Prince Edward’s Island, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, the State of Maine, and their respective dependencies; and westwardly to the very entrance of Hudson’s Straits. The Company also secured a grant of fifty square miles of land on the completion of Telegraph to Cape Breton; a similar concession of additional fifty square miles when the Cable shall have been laid between Ireland and Newfoundland ”

“ Two hundred and fifty guests was the tally for that year, and earliest among them came a telegraph operator, who as is the way with telegraphic operators out-bush invited us to “ride across to the wire for a shake hands with Outside”; and within an hour we came in sight of the telegraph wire as our horses mounted the stony ridge that overlooks the Warloch ponds, when the wire was forgotten for a moment in the kaleidoscope of moving, ever-changing colour that met our eyes. ”

“ Telegraphers know, though the general public may not, that messages can be sent by touching together the ends of a cut telegraph wire, and can be received by holding the ends to the tongue. My tongue, however, has always been too sensitive to take that kind of "subtle fluid."
Telegraphers have many methods of secret communication with each other: rattling teaspoons or tapping knives and forks at the table, or the apparently aimless "Devil's tattoo" of the fingers on the table or armchair are common methods, and I have heard of one in a tight corner who winked out a message appealing for help. ”

“ The pedestal and basins are of granite. On the east there is a seated figure of Peabody, life size. The buildings on the north side of the street do not require much comment; the North British & Mercantile Insurance Company is the most noticeable, because the horizontal lines are broken by the deeply recessed windows. The Postal Telegraph Office next door has a little tower on the summit, and the frontage is sprinkled with rather conventional stone panels and has a superfluity of stone ornament. ”

“ At the rear of the house stands the historic “Queen’s Oak,” whose story has already been told.
The remaining four miles into Towcester, though hilly, had much of their difficulties disposed of when Telford came this way with theodolite, chain, and spirit-level. Plumb Park Hill is not what it was, thanks to this fifteen-foot cutting and the forty-four high embankment in the hollow of Cuttle Mill, where the road goes nowadays on a level with the chimney-pots of old roadside cottages. ”

“ We have followed the history of the Atlantic Telegraph from the beginning to the end; from the hour that the idea first occurred to its projector, turning over the globe in his library, till the cable was stretched from continent to continent. Between these two points of time many years have passed, and many struggles intervened. Never did an enterprise pass through more vicissitudes; never was courage tried by more reverses and disappointments, the constant repetition of which gives to this narrative an almost painful interest. ”

“ A great American by inheritance, and by achievement, we do Samuel Finley Breese Morse homage, for his ideals are those for which our forefathers gave their lives. When that first message flashed over the wires to Baltimore and back, the Inventor said humbly and reverently, "The message baptizes the Telegraph with the name of its author,—for that author is God." ”

“ In sixty miles farther, going nearly east by north, the nature of the country entirely altered; the scrubs fell off, and an open stony country, having low, flat-topped ridges or table-lands, succeeded. This was a sure indication of our near approach to the Telegraph Line, as it is through a region of that kind, that the line runs in this latitude. I turned more northerly for a waterhole in the Alberga, called Appatinna, but we found it quite dry. There were two decrepit old native women, probably left there to starve and die by their tribe. ”

“ Under one gong there are three small gongs, one connecting directly with the Western Union Telegraph Office, one with Marshall, Field, & Co.’s retail store, and the other with the City Fire Department. In another panel are the American District Telegraph connections. In the ceiling over the wagon is a large reflecting gas-light, which shines directly over the horses when hitching. ”