Three Wires Over the Pend Oreille

Manager Anderson, of the Newport Telephone Co., has just completed one of the longest spans of wire in the West. The line extends across the Pend Oreille River from Newport to the new mill site of the Fidelity Lumber Co. Three wires are used. The wires are of a superior quality of Roebling steel instead of aluminum as was originally planned.

Two gang poles on either side of the river hold the wires. The poles on the opposite side are 77 feet high. Those on the Newport side are not so high, as they are located on a bluff nearly 100 feet above the present stage of water in the river. The wires will clear the stacks of all of the steamers plying on the stream by at least 50 feet, even in high water.

Each wire weighs about 200 pounds, making a weight of 600 pounds for the poles to carry. The poles are extra heavily guyed on each side of the river. The guys run back from the gang poles to two other piles and are doubled back again, marline-secured and set in swivels, so that the strain is equalized on both sides of the river. The wires have a sag of about 20 feet at the lowest point, this sag being left to allow for the contraction and expansion of the metal.

The poles are framed with clear timber four by six inches in size. A total of 2,000 feet of wire was used on each span in crossing the river and in doubling back on the poles. The spans are believed to be the longest in this part of the country. It took the entire force of linemen two weeks to accomplish the work.

The telephone company is certainly furnishing fine service to Newport since Manager Anderson rebuilt the system. At the present time there are 162 telephones in use in town and the number is constantly increasing. The number of local calls has increased in a greater proportion than the increase in the number of phones is accounted for by the fact of better service. Since the first of the year there have been 24 police calls made by the exchange. Connections for out-of-town service are made with the Pacific States and the Interstate companies, thus covering a large extent of territory in this section.

The prospects for the extension of the local line down the Pend Oreille River are bright, and it is reasonable to expect that all of the towns between Newport and Metaline will be connected by a line within the next year. This extension will be of great value to the residents of the valley, the railroad contractors and the river men.

The new line constructed across the river furnishes means of communication to the Fidelity mill, the ferry dock and the residences of J. C. Langille and Alfred Ernst, and other residents of that locality will probably soon avail themselves of the opportunity. The company also has a line to Albeni Falls and the railroad camps in that vicinity.