The Story of the Atlantic TelegraphField, Henry M. (Henry Martyn)
History
The Story of the Atlantic Telegraph
Field, Henry M. (Henry Martyn)
Transatlantic cables
Intending to resume the work on a much larger scale, Mr. White, the
Vice-President, was sent down to St. John's to be the General Agent of
the Company; while Mr. Matthew D. Field, as a practical engineer, was to
have charge of the construction of the line. The latter soon organized a
force of six hundred men, which he pushed forward in detachments to the
scene of operations.
And now began to appear still more the difficulties of the way. To
provide subsistence for man and beast, it was necessary to keep near the
coast, for all supplies had to be sent round by sea. Yet in following
the coast line, they had to wind around bays, or to climb over
headlands. If they struck into the interior, they had to cut their way
through the dense and tangled wood. There was not a path to guide them,
not even an Indian trail. When lost in the forest, they had to follow
the compass, as much as the mariner at sea.
To keep such a force in the field, that, like an army, produced nothing,
but consumed fearfully, required constant attention to the commissary
department. The little steamer Victoria, which belonged to the Company,
was kept plying along the coast, carrying barrels of pork and potatoes,
kegs of powder, pickaxes and spades and shovels, and all the implements
of labor. These were taken up to the heads of the bays, and thence
carried, chiefly on men's backs, over the hills to the line of the road.
In many respects, it had the features of a military expedition. It moved
forward in a great camp. The men were sheltered in tents, when sheltered
at all, or in small huts which they built along the road. But more often
they slept on the ground. It was a wild and picturesque sight to come
upon their camp in the woods, to see their fires blazing at night while
hundreds of stalwart sleepers lay stretched on the ground. Sometimes,
when encamped on the hills, they could be seen afar off at sea. It made
a pretty picture then. But the hardy pioneers thought little of the
figure they were making, when they were exposed to the fury of the
elements. Often the rain fell in torrents, and the men, crouching under
their slight shelter, listened sadly to the sighing of the wind among
the trees, answered by the desolate moaning of the sea.
Yet in spite of all obstacles, the work went on. All through the long
days of summer, and through the months of autumn, every cove and creek
along that southern coast heard the plashing of their oars, and the
steady stroke of their axes resounded through the forest.
But as the season advanced, all these difficulties increased. For
nearly half the year, the island is buried in snow. Blinding drifts
sweep over the moors, and choke up the paths of the forest. How at such
times the expedition lay floundering in the woods, still struggling to
force its way onward; what hardships and sufferings the men endured--all
this is a chapter in the History of the Telegraph which has not been
written, and which can never be fully told. The
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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