THUNDERSTORM ON THE WEST COAST.
A khcent thunderstorm on the West Coast did considerable damage to the telegraph lino between Boss and Hokitika. Portions of the" wire were melted, and'(ihe linemen report) " the main body of lightning wonld then appear to have entered the grouud, scooping out a place some four feet in diameter, and scattering mod, slicks and stones', some of which were U-n to twelve inches in diamater, in ali directions. This, however, does not appear to have exhausted the
enormous foro?, for on the opposite side of the road one would almost think that a ball from a 100-ton gun had been discharged, from the manner in which the roots, scrub, and mud had been sent about, some of it 80 to 50 feet along the road,. While this had been going on here, rs much of the electric discharge a 9 the telegraph wire was capable of conducting had traveled aloDg the wire both ways, for about half a mile southwards, and nearly a mile norlhward, portions makiDg to the earth at nearly every pole in that distance. Some of the poles of course have been shattered to pieces and scattered along the road or in the buab, while otheis have had piec3s of various dimensions cut out or split off in the effort of the mysterious force to find the shortest path to the earth. For several chamYthe telegraph wire has the appearance of being bent at thort distances as .if it had been wound on a cylinder, having sharp projections at regular intervals."
THUNDERSTORM ON THE WEST COAST.
Colonist, Volume XXXI, Issue 5313, 7 September 1888, Page 4
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