November i, 1904.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER W^ORLD 



53 



THE NEW CABLE TO ALASKA 



THE territory of Alaska, which is daily becoming more and 

 more important from a commercial standpoint, was. pre- 

 vious to October 10, isolated from regular telegraphic communi- 

 cation with the United States and the outside world. 



Although telegraph lines have been built under the most 

 discouraging circumstances, connecting the principal govern- 

 ment posts in Alaska, it was necessary, in order to reach the 

 United States, to have these messages repeated over Lnglish 

 lines running through British Columbia. The severe weather 

 of those latitudes during six months of the year makes it almost 

 impossible to maintain these lines in working condition, and at 

 the same time it was not thought desirable to have the official 

 news of our army outposts transmitted over English circuits. 



To obviate this difficulty. General A. W. Greely, chief signal 

 officer of the United States army, drew a plan whereby Alaska 

 could be in direct communication with the home country by 

 the use of a deep sea ocean cable. An appropriation was made 

 by the Fifty-eighth Congress to carry out this plan. 



In looking over the situation, it was found that difficulties 

 were to be encountered never before met in submarine cable 

 engineering, as this line was to be laid in a latitude not pre- 

 viously reached by submarine cables. The question of the ex- 

 cessive cold to be met with, the glaciers, that were continually 

 discharging their mountains of ice directly along the course of 

 the cable, and the practically unchartered waters, were a few of 

 the engineering points to be overcome. 



The unbroken line of success that was met with in connect- 

 ing together the various Philippine islands by ocean cables of 

 American manufacture, led General Greely to again pin his 

 faith on seamless rubber insulations, and in considering the sub- 

 ject of specifications, he consulted with the company that had 

 manufactured the Philippine islands cable. 



It was decided that a copper conductor consisting of nine 

 strands should be used, insulated with: (i) A seamless cover- 

 ing of pure Pard rubber ; and (2) a covering of vulcanized rub- 

 ber, also applied in a seamless manner. The conductor was 

 then served with jute, and protected with steel armor wires, 

 having a tensile strength exceeding 200,000 pounds per square 

 inch, these being in turn protected with a jute and asphalt 

 compound. 



Three types of cable were designed for this work : (i) The 

 Shore-end, which was protected by a double armor of great 

 strength, the finished cable weighing 20.000 pounds per mile, 

 the Shore end type extending from the landing stations well 

 out into deep water, where (2) an Intermediate type was spliced 

 on, having a single serving of heavy armor wires. After reach- 

 ing a point 100 miles from the shore, and where a depth of 2000 

 feet was found, (3) the Deep-sea type, having a lighter armor 

 wire, was laid, this latter being the principal type of cable used, 

 and out of the entire length of 2088 miles, 1500 miles were of 

 this class. 



This cable was manufactured at the Bayonne plant of The 

 Safety Insulated Wire and Cable Co. (New York) two ship 

 loads being sent around Cape Horn, and 35 car-loads across 

 the continent. 



The great advantage of India-rubber over Gutta-percha as 

 an insulator was readily shown in this work, as the cable 

 shipped around the "Horn" was transported in commercial 

 steamers, and did not require the iron tanks, tilled with water, 

 which would have been imperative had Gutta-percha been used 

 as an insulator, to prevent the dielectric from softening, while 

 it would otherwise have been impossible to ship that form of 

 cable in freight cars across the continent. 



The conductors were transported to the United States cable- 

 ship Burnside at Seattle, and were laid under the personal 

 supervision of Colonel James Allen, of the Army signal service, 

 assisted by officers of his corps. This cable is the longest span 

 having rubber insulation thus far laid, and when it is consid- 

 ered that the greatest depth reached was approximately 10,000 

 feet (nearly two miles) it will again prove beyond a doubt that 

 rubber insulation, applied by special methods designed by 

 American engineers, has every advantage over the old type of 

 Gutta-percha cable. 



In the manufacture of this cable over 365 000 pounds of high 

 grade Para rubber compound were used, and cable companies 

 need not longer fear the extinction of the Gutta-percha tree, 

 which for twenty years past has been their bi'lenoir. 



There are now in actual daily operation approximately 5000 

 miles of rubber insulated deep sea cables manufactured by the 

 Safety company, covering the extremes of temperature, from 

 the torrid waters of the Philippines to the ice bound seas of 

 Alaska. 



This success is evidence of the far sighted policy of the 

 United States government, in trusting to American engineer- 

 ing ability, while at the same time encouraging home indus- 

 tries, a policy which might be followed to the great advantage 

 of our commercial companies in the purchase of future ocean 

 cables. 



The distance from Seattle (state of Washington) to Sitka is 

 about 970 miles ; from Sitka to Fort Liscum, at Valdez. Alaska, 

 is 565 miles, making a total of 1535 miles from Seattle to Val- 

 dez. From Sitka a branch extends to Skagway, a distance of 

 292 miles, touching at Juneau and Haines Mission. This ser- 

 vice connects with the extensive overland telegraph system 

 already established by the United States government in Alaska, 

 and with certain existing submarine communications between 

 military posts, in addition to which is to be considered the 

 wireless telegraph service maintained by the government across 

 Norton sound, between Nome and St. Michaels, a distance of 

 108 miles. The completion of the cable system was signalized 

 by the sending of the following despatch : 



Sitka, Alaska, October 6, 1904. — To the A'ewspafers of Seattle ana 

 the Associated Press : The completion of the government cable from 

 Valdez to Sitka, making a complete connection by an all-American line 

 with 46 stations in Alaska, is the beginning of a new era for Alaska. 

 Wagon roads and railways will open up the greatest mining center of 

 the world. Other industries will quickly follow and insure this coun- 

 try's future prosperity. WILLIAM L. distin. 



Acting Governor of Alaska. 



ANOTHER PACIFIC CABLE PROPOSED. 

 Articles of incorporation for the North American Telegraph 

 Cable Co. were filed at Seattle, Washington, on May 5, 1904, 

 which provide for the building of a submarine cable from 

 Seattle to Valdez and other points in Alaska, and thence to 

 Vladivostock, Russia. The incorporators were Judge Thomas 

 Burke, Robert Moran, A. E. Lathrop, J. T. Flynn, and other 

 residents of Seattle. The last named is editor of The Midnight 

 Sun. a Seattle journal devoted to Alaskan commerce. Judge 

 Burke represents the interest in the enterprise of the Great 

 Northern railway. It is the intention of the company to inter- 

 est capital in extending the United States government cable to 

 Russia, this making another length across the Pacific ocean. 

 Nothing, of course, will be done until the end of the Russian- 

 Japanese war, when active steps will be taken to complete this 

 work. The Seattle- Valdez cable being a government line will, 

 of course, be open to transmit all message* for the new com- 

 pany as far as their line extends, where it is the intention to 

 transfer them to their own cable. 



