Lightning Damage to Telegraph Lines

[Newspaper]

Publication: The Southern Recorder

Milledgeville, GA, United States
vol. XLVII, no. 21, p. 1, col. 6

A most extraordinary occurrence took place along the Nashville and Decatur railroad, between Columbia and Pulaski, during the thunderstorm on last Friday night. A half mile of the telegraph wire was melted, and divided over the whole distance, in small fragments, irregular in shape, and many of them not larger than a buckshot, or a small rifle ball. Fragments were found along the whole distance, and would not, if put together connectively, make a wire thirty feet in length. The glass insulators were fused, and the poles were shivered into fragments.

Keywords:	Lightning Damage : Telegraph Lines
Researcher notes:	Although it is unknown what insulator were on this line in 1866, a number of glass blocks have been found along its pathway.
Supplemental information:
Researcher:	Glenn Drummond
Date completed:	July 15, 2009 by: Glenn Drummond;