The telegraph manual: a complete history and description of the semaphoric, electric and magnetic telegraphs of Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, ancient and modern.

662 TELEGRAPH CROSSINGS OVER RIVERS.
distances are spanned from the tops of houses in Paris, and over
the Alpine regions of Switzerland. From mountain to mountain
the iron thread is suspended, and on witnessing the electric
cord elevated high from the green vale below, stretching from
the snow-clad summits, it often occurred to me that the means
used by man for the spread of the telegraph over the earthtraversing the seas and mountain barriers-was as sublime as
the lightning, which Providence had made subservient for the
diffusion of light and knowledge.
RIVER CROSSINGS IN AMERICA.
From what I have stated, the reader will see that there
are no very extensive crossings in Europe compared with
those of America. I will now describe a few of those on the
western continent. It will be inconvenient to refer to them
in the order as to the time they were respectively constructed.
I will, therefore, refer to them as to facts, with the general
remark, that those to which I refer were all built between
the years 1846 and 1850.
The crossing of the rivers by the telegraph has been from
the commencement of the enterprise a source of much annoyance and a vast expense. I think it would be safe to
say, that the American telegraph companies have lost and
expended more than half a million of dollars in connection
with river crossings. On the extension of the experimental line
between Washington and Baltimore to Philadelphia in 1845,
the Susquehanna river occasioned some difficulty and considerable expense. The line was constructed some distance from
the direct route in order to cross the river at a practicable point.
The next formidable difficulty was that of the Hudson river at
New York City. For a long time the dispatches were carried
over the river by messengers in boats; but finally, the line
was submerged by Mr Ezra Cornell in leaden pipes, the wire
being covered with cotton, and insulated with Indiarubber.
This was November 20, 1845. There were two cables thus
formed, and they worked very well for several months, until they
were carried away by the ice in 1846. They crossed the Hudson at Fort Lee, some 12 miles above New York City. When
these cables were broken, high masts were erected and wire
upon them was stretched across the river. Men were in attendance all the time to repair the wire when broken by vessels.
It was the custom to let the wires down into the water for
vessels to pass and then draw them up again. This was practicable in tide water, but not so with the inland rivers. The
Hudson river at the place of crossing was 2,700 feet wide.