OCR Text |
Show U. S. Signal Corps Extends Telephone Line in Far North Today an army officer can pick up his telephone in Washington, or at any other point in the army communications com-munications system, and speak directly di-rectly to Dawson Creek, British Columbia, far northern way-station ' on the Alcan highway. Behind this simple statement is one of the great stories of army accomplishment, ac-complishment, the Honorable Robert P. Patterson, the undersecretary of war, said. It is a story of almost superhuman effort by the U. S. signal sig-nal corps. The first section of the telephone line, which eventually will follow the entire 2,060-mile length of the Alcan highway, joined Edmonton, Alberta, to Dawson Creek, and tied in with regulan facilities at Helena, Mont. Actually only eight days were consumed con-sumed in stringing the wire over a distance which corresponds to that between Washington and Boston. Work started on November 22. It had to be completed December 1 to keep the promise of the signal corps to the corps of engineers. The official of-ficial report to the chief signal officer of-ficer describes the activities of the next few days as follows: "The worst storm in 40 years hit Edmonton. Roads were blocked, the temperature was 28 degrees below zero. Train transportation that ran every other day, freight trains that ran whenever a train could be made, added to the task of placing cross arms and stringing 400 miles of wire and installing five repeater stations. "At 6:45 p. m. on December 1, the telephone circuit from Helena to Dawson Creek was cut into service. At 7:50 p. m. service became official when a call was made by Brig. Gen. Frank E. Stoner, director of the army communications division, Washington, to Col. Heath Twitchell,. corps of engineers at Dawson Creek." |