Through the pages of the National Geographic Magazine, I'm very familiar with the Andes Mountains in South America. I've flown over them, barely missing the highest, cloud-wrapped peaks, hiked, and rode on pack animals. Now I'm back again, in Chile, to bury a critical telephone cable.
"The World's Highest International Telephone Cable" is a brief article in the National Geographic Magazine's December, 1930, issue. It chronicles the difficult task of linking two countries, Chile and Argentina, through telephone communication. Due to serious problems of earthquakes and avalanches in the mountains, the cable had to be buried, not strung on telephone poles as was usually done in 1930.
The cable followed close to the railroad line through the mountains. Since the Andes rise to more than 20,000 feet, the laborers were men accustomed to working in the altitude.
There were several photographs of the tall statue, "Christ, the Redeemer," which stands at 12,000 feet above sea level, and is on the boundary between Chile and Argentina. The telephone cable runs directly in front of the statue.
"Once the Andes separated Chile and the Argentine not only physically and in a commercial way, but also formed a barrier against intellectual, social, and artistic relations. Now, by this new cable, friendly intercourse is easy" (p. 731). We who can talk easily by satellite telephone anywhere in the world should not underestimate the cost of progress in communication throughout the years. Sometimes it helps to remember those who made this possible.
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