''Le Fil qui chante'' is a '' Lucky Luke'' adventure written by Goscinny and illustrated by Morris. It is the forty sixth book in the series and was originally published in French in 1977 by Dargaud and in English by

Cinebook Cinebook Ltd is a British publishing company that publishes comic albums and graphic novels. It describes itself as "the 9th art publisher," the 9th art being comics in continental Europe, especially France, Belgium and Italy. They typically tr ...

in 2012. The story is based on the historical feat of constructing the First Transcontinental Telegraph line connecting the West Coast of the United States and the

East Coast of the United States The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, the Atlantic Coast, and the Atlantic Seaboard, is the coastline along which the Eastern United States meets the North Atlantic Ocean. The eastern seaboard contains the coa ...

in 1861. The title in English is ''The Singing Wire'', referring both to "singing" of wires (caused by vortex shedding), and the transmission of communication (later voice) across electric cables.

Synopsis

One hundred thousand dollars will be offered to the city which will build the telegraph line to Salt Lake City the quickest. Carson City in the west and

Omaha Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest city ...

in the east are up to the challenge. But the sabotage of the opposing team and the attacks of Indians will somewhat slow down the pioneers of the singing wire, of which Lucky Luke is a part, having resigned from

the Pony Express The Pony Express was an American express mail service that used relays of horse-mounted riders. It operated from April 3, 1860, to October 26, 1861, between Missouri and California. It was operated by the Central Overland California and Pike ...

to join the team.

Characters

* James Gamble: Optimistic engineer responsible for carrying out the telegraph between Carson City and Salt Lake City * Edward Creighton: Friend and rival of Gamble, head of the Omaha team * Bradwell: Dishonest leader of the Omaha team who intends to pocket the promised bonus for the one who arrives first in Salt Lake City, and a caricature of American actor Brian Donlevy. * Pots: Cook from the Gamble team, accused of being a traitor * Sparrowhawk: Indian hired by Gamble to persuade the Indian tribes allow the telegraph on their land

History

Buffalo Bill William Frederick Cody (February 26, 1846January 10, 1917), known as "Buffalo Bill", was an American soldier, Bison hunting, bison hunter, and showman. He was born in Le Claire, Iowa, Le Claire, Iowa Territory (now the U.S. state of Iowa), but ...

appears in a panel at the start of the story. * The President of the United States Abraham Lincoln appeared at the beginning of the album. * The president of the Western Union, Hiram Sibley, appears at the beginning of the album. * James Gamble and

Edward Creighton Edward Charles Creighton (August 31, 1820 – November 5, 1874) was a prominent pioneer businessman in early Omaha, Nebraska. The elder brother of John A. Creighton, the Creightons were responsible for founding many institutions that were cen ...

were the two engineers responsible for the ultimate telegraph junction. * Washakie, chief of the

Shoshone The Shoshone or Shoshoni ( or ) are a Native American tribe with four large cultural/linguistic divisions: * Eastern Shoshone: Wyoming * Northern Shoshone: southern Idaho * Western Shoshone: Nevada, northern Utah * Goshute: western Utah, easter ...

tribe, was real. He initially opposed the installation of the telegraph before being favorable to it. * Brigham Young appears at the end of the comic book album. * The president of the court of California, Stephen J. Field, appears at the end of the story. The telegram which he sends to Abraham Lincoln is, moreover, authentic.

Adaptation

This album was adapted from the animated series ''Lucky Luke'', released for the first time in 1984.

External links

''Lucky Luke'' official site album index

Goscinny website on ''Lucky Luke''
Comics by Morris (cartoonist) Fiction set in 1861 Lucky Luke albums 1977 graphic novels Works by René Goscinny Cultural depictions of Abraham Lincoln Cultural depictions of Buffalo Bill {{FrancoBelgian-comics-stub