JSTATULiAL PHILOSOPHY. 125 



line is on poles, it being thought best to cross rivers in this manner 

 rather than lay submarine cables. The wire used weighs three hun- 

 dred and fifty pounds to the mile, which would make, for the line, 

 from Brownsville, Mo., to San Francisco, seven hundred thousand 

 pounds of wire. The posts are good size, thirty to the mile, and more 

 than half of them red cedar, the balance mostly of pine. 



The country is destitute of timber most of the way ; but the longest 

 distance that posts had to be hauled in any one stretch was two hun- 

 dred and forty miles. As before stated, no submarine cables were 

 used at river crossings ; but the wire was carried over sometimes on 

 high masts, where common poles did not give sufficient height. On 

 the high mountains, where the snow accumulates to such fabulous 

 depths, the posts are extra large, and so high as to keep the wire 

 above the deepest snow, and so near together that the wire will not 

 break by the snow and sleet that will load upon it. 



Extra mule teams were kept along with the train for carrying the 

 men to and from the works, for hauling water for the men and ani- 

 mals on the deserts, and other necessary running about, and the line 

 was completed as the train moved westward. 



The line is worked by Morse's instruments. The cost of the line will 

 average about $250 per mile, the whole cost not exceeding $500,000. 

 Towards this the United States government pays $400,000 in ten 

 yearly instalments, and the State of -California pays $60,000. 



The section on the California side was built by Mr. Street, of Cali- 

 fornia, and at about the same rate of progress, ten miles per day, as 

 this side. 



The charge on the Pacific telegraph for a message of ten words, 

 from Brownsville, Missouri, to San Francisco, is three dollars. The 

 charge for ten words from New York to San Francisco being now 

 about six dollars ($5,95), with the addition of forty-eight cents for 

 every additional word, the public are already availing themselves of 

 the line to a considerable extent. The average number of messages 

 per day sent over so far is about sixty, exclusive of news reports and 

 government dispatches, the latter amounting to an average of four 

 messages a day. 



The danger to the line from Indian hostility does not seem so great 

 as has been feared. The Indians have been conciliated, and some 

 were employed to aid the regular force of workmen. One tribe has 

 now the care of the stock which was used for transportation. 



The whole continuous stretch of telegraph wire across this conti- 

 nent, between Cape Race on the east and San Francisco on the west, 

 is about five thousand miles. 



Its extremities comprise seventy degrees of longitude, making a 

 difference in time of more than four and a half hours. The agents at 

 Cape Race might send a Dispatch forward at set of sun, and the news 

 reach San Francisco while that luminary was still above the horizon. 

 If a telegram were instantaneously sent over the whole line, it would 

 reach San Francisco at a time, according to the clocks of that city, 

 about three hours and fifteen minutes before the time at which it left 

 New York, according to the clocks there. 



There is now in operation in California about two thousand miles of 

 line, extending south from San Franciso to Los Angelos, and north 



11* 



