118 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICIILTDRE. 



West Indies and the coasts contiguous to the Gulf of Mexico and the 

 Caribbean Sea and of wireless messages from ships in these and 

 Atlantic waters. The cable service was fairly good, but, as hereto- 

 fore, inordinate delays in receipt of ship messages were experienced, 

 largely due to static electricity which prevails during the summer 

 months. It is not likely much improvement will occur until this 

 handicap to prompt transmission is eliminated. 



WEATHER BUREAU TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE LINES. 



On the whole, these lines served satisfactorily the purposes for 

 which they were constructed, namely, transmission to and from iso- 

 lated stations on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and in Lake Michi- 

 gan, of meteorological reports, storm warnings, vessel and wreck 

 reports, and miscellaneous Government and commercial messages. 



The conductor used for many years for telegraphing in the sub- 

 marine cable connecting Block Island, R. L, with the mainland, 

 however, developed trouble for a while in the fall of 1922 and became 

 permanently disabled on March 26 last. The Coast Guard imme- 

 diately offered to attempt repair, but because of unforeseen troubles 

 appearing in the machinery of the cable ship, repair was necessarily 

 deferred for several months. In the meantime all telegrams had to 

 be telephoned to and from the island. The conductor was repaired 

 on July 1 and is now giving good service. It is liable, however, to 

 break down at any time because of progressive electrolysis. In order 

 that the large amount of telegraph and telephone business offered, 

 especially in the summer, may be adequately taken care of, a new 

 cable of greatly increased capacity should be laid by a commercial 

 company immediately. This situation was presented several j^ears 

 ago to the presidents of the commercial companies directly interested 

 without result. Two of the three conductors in this cable are leased 

 to the New England Telephone & Telegraph Co. for telephone pur- 

 poses, and it is only a question of time when the Weather Bureau will 

 be compelled to terminate the lease and to assume entire control and 

 operation and to build or lease land lines on the island and mainland 

 in order to connect with a telegraph office. 



Three other cables owned and operated by the bureau as telephone 

 lines, viz, those connecting Beaver Island and North and South 

 Manitou Islands, Lake Michigan, with the mainland, worked without 

 interruption during the entire year. The line from Point Reyes to 

 San Anselmo, Calif., connecting at the latter point with San Fran- 

 cisco via the Pacific Telephone & Telegraph Co., is also operated 

 telephonically. General conditions were improved by a rerouting of 

 13 miles of the line and by substituting copper wire for the old gal- 

 vanized-iron wire formerly in use. The lO-mile telephone line be- 

 tween Whitefish Point and Vermilion Point, Mich., was turned over 

 to the Coast Guard March 1, which has supplied and now owns practi- 

 cally all the present material. 



Two remaining lines are operated telegraphically, that between 

 North Head and Fort Canby, Wash., 2| miles, connecting with Port- 

 land, Oreg., by way of a War Department cable across the Columbia 

 River, thence by Western Union wire from Fort Stephens, and the 

 line from Tatoosh Island to Port Angeles, about 90 miles in length. 

 These are not only vitally important to the Weather Bureau and other 



