Re: Telegraph wires

Mr. Trump is an expert on all matters regarding C&S telegraph lines. Here's a copy of a 2006 posting of mine that became quite informative...

Waterton Canyon "Telecom"

Posted By: John Farrell
Date: Wednesday, 19 April 2006, at 7:57 p.m.

In the 1970's the remains of telecom poles that followed the C&S roadbed could be found at various points in the canyon. Some were sawed off a few feet above the ground, and the poles fell over in bushes and by 1979 were buried in years of fallen leaves. Each held six or so glass insulators. Were these part of the railroad, and were they for telephones or telegraph? These areas were soon flooded by the Strontia Springs reservoir.


Re: Waterton Canyon "Telecom"

Posted By: L. E. Trump
Date: Thursday, 20 April 2006, at 2:15 p.m.

In Response To: Waterton Canyon "Telecom" (John Farrell)

The Western Union built and maintained the pole line along the C&S narrow gauge. It was all Morse telegraph, no telephone circuits at all.

Six iron wires. I would dearly love to come up old pole head diagrams that showed what those wire numbers were and which pin positions they
occupied.....

It's been sort of a hobby with me..I've diagrammed a lot of the D&RGW narrow gauge and standard gauge telegraph lines and know what the wire numbers were and where they were located on the crossarms.

The old C&S line has escaped from me so far though.

Typical telegraph line as was along the C&S narrow gauge would probably have carried one wire used by the dispatcher as a "train wire" for train orders, another would have been a RR "message wire" used for RR company business not directly related to train orders. Other wires were probably one or more Western Union "thru" wires to Leadville, and there probably was a Western Union "way wire" that served the commercial telegraph business in the depot offices all along the railroad.

Re: Waterton Canyon "Telecom" *PIC*

Posted By: John Farrell
Date: Sunday, 23 April 2006, at 8:34 p.m.

In Response To: Re: Waterton Canyon "Telecom" *PIC* (John Farrell)

I found these glass telegraph insulators near the site of Strontia Springs, Colorado in 1978.

Left to Right
(3) Hemingray
(1) Hemingray No. 16
(1) Hemingray No. 40
(1) H. G. Co. J Petticoat

Below
(1) Short pedestal, wood cap, and nut
(1) Long pedestal, wood cap, and nut

The telegraph poles in Waterton Canyon were sawed off probably in connection with the scrapping of the C&S railroad’s South Park Line between 1938 and 1941. A couple of the poles fell in groves of scrub oak and were buried by decades of autumn leaves, with insulators, caps, pedestals, and cross beams still intact in 1978. The telegraph lines were gone, but wire still wrapped some insulators. A nail was used with each nut to keep it from working loose over time.


Re: Waterton Canyon "Telecom"

Posted By: South Park
Date: Tuesday, 25 April 2006, at 6:02 p.m.

In Response To: Re: Waterton Canyon "Telecom" *PIC* (John Farrell)

From photos and digging the line from Bailey's to Gunnison, I have got a pretty fair idea how this line was built and what was used where. Original construction used CD 133.4 No Name Hemingray No.3's with the Dec. 19 1871 patent on them. A telegraph line into the South park preceeded the railroad, but these appear to be the earliest insulators used by the DSP&P. The South Park seemed to favor Hemingray glass, while the D&RG liked Brookfield.

I never dug even a shard of an HG Petticoat like you show there. "HG CO" stands for Hemingray Glass Co., and that "Petto" type beehive dates to the 1884-1892 period. The others are much newer ( 1910-1918), the No.16 being a "Toll" style for use on old telephone toll lines - somewhat odd for a RR application.