318 THE BELL SYSTEM TECHNICAL JOURNAL, JANUARY 1957 



not desired to lay another cable out of Trinity Bay as the route might 

 be wanted for a second transoceanic cable at some time in the future. 



Alternative 3 involved a submarine cable from Clarenville out through 

 the North West Arm to Rantem at the head of Trinity Bay, a short land 

 cable across the isthmus, and thence either a submarine cable direct to 

 Sydney, Nova Scotia, or a land crossing of the Burin Peninsula at Garnish 

 and thence by submarine cable to Sydney. This route involved three 

 open sea sections with one or two land sections. There was rather limited 

 space for a cable in Placentia Baj" and the bottom was uneven and rocky. 

 Existing cables laid around the Burin Peninsula have had interruptions 

 which indicated an unsuitable bottom and fishing trawlers had been 

 seen in the vicinity recently. 



Alternative 4 also involved a cable overland, from Clarenville to 

 Terrenceville at the head of Fortune Bay, there to join a direct sub- 

 marine cable to Sydney Mines. Three short underwater sections would 

 be involved in the Clarenville-Terrenceville link, but these could be in 

 shallow water out of harm's way. The main submarine route from Ter- 

 renceville to Sydney Mines would be clear of other cables and would 

 avoid trawling areas and anchorages, a not inconsiderable achievement 

 in view of the congestion of submarine cables and the fishing activity 

 around the southeast corner of Newfoundland. Further, a good landing 

 site in Nova Scotia was available on property near Sydney Mines owned 

 by Eastern Telephone and Telegraph Company. 



After due consideration. Alternative 4 was chosen as being the most 

 satisfactory from all aspects and the final route is shown on Figure 3. 



This route is considered to be most likely to have a good life history. 

 While it would have been possible to have one continuous land cable 

 between Clarenville and Terrenceville, the three short underwater sec- 

 tions saved a considerable amount of trenching without adding undue 

 hazard to the system. 



Clarenville-Terrenceville Route 



It having been decided to route the Post Office single cable system 

 overland from Clarenville to Terrenceville a number of other matters 

 required decision. The first was the type of cable to be employed for this 

 section. Several alternatives were considered, bearing in mind factors 

 such as the type of terrain, access, aA'ailability of primary power, possi- 

 ble future expansion of capacity and, of course, interference from static 

 and radio frequency pick-up. The advantages of using standard solid 

 dielectric coaxial ocean cable with submarine-type repeaters were judged 



