| OCR Text |
Show Price of Material On the Increase With bids for furnishing wire to tho forest service recently advanced 45 per cent, and prices on other equipment considerably Increased, material curtailment of the program, for telephono line construction on the national forests this summer s said to bo In prospect. There are over 20,000 miles of telophono lino on tho national forests of tho country coun-try and approximately 2,000 miles ot new lino was planned for the coming com-ing fiscal year. A certain amount of wlro Is required re-quired also for the upkeep, since tho lines are peculiarly subject to the breakage from falling trees and by similar causes. Every spring tho forest rangers have to get tho lines In order In preparation tor tho line season, and although, to lessen the effects of accident, tho wires are mostly run on swinging Insulators suspended from trees, there nro In the aggregate a large number ot repairs re-pairs to be made. Notwithstanding tho great mileage of telephone lines already built within with-in tho forests, large areas are still without means of communication and consequently, lacking In proper cculpment for lire protection. Not only nro tho telephones used by the forest officers, but they are a great convenience to tho public, very often furnishing Isolated settlements a means of communication which they could secure In no other way. In spite of the advanced prices ot materials, the 3,300 miles of tele-phono tele-phono line within tho forests of the Intermountaln district will bo thoroughly thor-oughly overhauled and placed In effective ef-fective working order this Beason and additional line to the extent of 207 miles will be built during tho fiscal year beginning July 1, at a total cost of approximately $10,500. |
