OAKEN INSULATOR
RECALLS EARLY
TELEGRAPH LINE
By David Richardson
Seattle Times, Sunday, December _________
A PRIMITIVE oaken insulator which turned up on Lopez Island recently recalled an early-day telegraph line which once linked the San Juan Islands with the mainland. By chance, the find coincides with the 100th anniversary of the line’s construction.
Owen Higgins, who lives near the village of Richardson, found the relic in the woods near his home. It is a wooden block about 3 by 4 by 5 inches and was fixed to an old-growth tree by hand-forged iron spikes. Protruding from the bottom is an iron double hook for “sagging in” a single strand of solid wire. Higgins, who has lived on Lopez for 70 years, recalled seeing insulators like this one in his youth.
The line was built during 1865 and 1866 to connect Victoria, B. C., with the American Western states. The British Columbia Parliament authorized its construction in 1864, giving exclusive right to build and operate the line to the California State Telegraph Co., an energetic outfit then engaged in extending its lines through the wilderness to Portland, Olympia and Seattle. But just as a shipload of copper wire for the Victoria end arrived there from San Francisco, the home government in England vetoed the plan; in case of hostilities, London did not wish to have its communications at the mercy of the Yankees.
A NEW authorization was drawn up A hastily with a Canadian firm, the Collins Overland Telegraph Co., the owner of which was pushing the grandiose scheme of wiring the New and Old Worlds together by way of Alaska and Siberia. Collins, in the meantime, had gained control of the California firm and its West Coast lines.
Submarine cable for the underwater portions of the Victoria line was ordered from England but was submerged prematurely — and permanently when the ship carrying it foundered while rounding Cape Horn.
More cable was sent for and by the time it arrived safely at San Francisco in October 1865, construction of the land-line portions was about complete. The following March the cable arrived in Victoria, where the gunboat Forward was rigged for laying cable. The Lopez-Fidalgo section was laid first, then the long stretch between San Juan and Vancouver Islands.
As the Forward reached Canadian soil and the shore end of the cable was connected to the waiting Victoria wire, three cheers went up from a cluster of dignitaries gathered for the occasion. Someone opened a bottle of champagne, and an American assistant superintendent, R. R. Haines, responded by whipping a portable telegraph key from his pocket and tapping the first message: “April 23, 5:29 p. m. To operator, Victoria. Cable all 0. K.”
The next day a short length of cable was put down between San Juan and Lopez Islands, completing the circuit to the mainland. It was a dramatic success for the day, and joy was unbounded in Victoria, which now considered itself “connected with the rest of mankind.”
Haines sent the first wire to his boss in Oakland, Calif.: “Have wired the tail of the British Lion to the left wing of the American Eagle.” The Eagle replied to the Lion, "I only hope it will be a stronger bond of friendship between two great nations whose feelings ought always to be in harmony.”
Island residents were hired to help maintain the line. On Lopez one of these men was Sampson Chadwick, whose daughter Ellen, now 85, still lives within sight of Telegraph Bay. She recalled as a girl often finding pieces of discarded cable, which she remembers as being a little more than an inch thick, with insulation around the copper conductor, and jute cords wrapped around the outside. The bits of cable were prized highly by children who cut out chunks of the gutta percha — similar to chicle and used it for chewing gum.
Once a band of Indians landed on Lopez, Miss Chadwick recalled, and, while digging for clams at low tide, accidentally cut into the shore end of the cable.
Seeing the bright copper which became exposed, they supposed they had discovered gold and were busy cutting out chunks of the wire when the operator, whose cabin was nearby, ran toward them excitedly. The Indians thought he was trying to steal their “claim” and threatened to kill him, whereupon he retreated to the Chadwick farm for help.
Soon a party of whites returned to the scene in time to see the Indians, with their “gold,” paddling rapidly toward the mainland and the assay office.
After quickly repairing the mutilated section of cable, the operator telegraphed the Fidalgo side, telling them what had happened. When the Indians landed there, they were dumbfounded to discover the news of their “strike” had reached there ahead of them! Meekly they gave up the shiny metal that looked like gold and wasn’t, but somehow could carry a message faster than the fastest canoe.
TECHNICAL difficulties plagued the line, particularly breaks in the submarine parts. Within a few years, the direct nine-mile cable between Victoria and San Juan was abandoned and a new one constructed by way of James and Sidney Islands to the north. By 1875 cable breaks were occurring almost faster than they could be repaired. In another three years, the Canadians were proposing to scrap the line altogether and build a new one across the Gulf of Georgia and the British Columbia mainland.
British Columbia acquired the company's line north of the border. But with the San Juan dispute settled in favor of the United States, islands involved became Yankee territory. The line was expensive to maintain and brought in so little revenue the company ordered it taken down.
Owen Higgins believes the oaken insulator found near his farm may b the last remaining trace of the century-old line. He has donated it to the museum at Eastsound, Orcas Island where it is on display.