Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1904-04-19
CITY SPOKE TO CITY
LONG DISTANCE TELEPHONY
QUARTER CENTURY OLD.
FIRST LINE WAS 81 MILES LONG
Ottumwans Can Converse With New
r York = Marvellous Development
That Has Grown Out of First Short
Line.

| Ottumwans, who today can step to
the telephone in their own home and
talk to friends in Chicago, New York
or hundred other cities in the United
States, scarcely realize that it is but
matter of few years ago that long
distance telephony was first conceived
Less than quarter of century ago
city first talked with city.
Before 1879 no telephone message
had been transmitted from one city to
another, and the idea that the sound
of the human voice could be carried
over wire forty or fifty miles in length
was not generally entertained. 1t was,
however, firmly fixed in the minds OF
the men who had recently formed the
Bell company, and they even then pre-
dicted that the time would come when
the country would be covered by har-
monious network of telephone wires,
and the distance over which conversa-
ton could be carried would be mea-
sured by hundreds and thousands OF
miles, bringing the entire population
in communication through single uni
versal system.
Three years after the invention of
Alexander Graham Bell had been eX-
hibited at the centennial exposition at
Philadelphia and had excited the curl
osity of the world, rather as scientific
novelty than practical utility, these
men in the New England company au.
thorized the construction of line from
Boston to Lowell, distance of TWEEN.
ty-seven miles. When the wire had
been strung it was found that they
were right in their expectations, and
the voice of person speaking in Bos
ton could be heard by the person at
the receiver in Lowell. Even then the
public failed to grasp the significance
of this achievement, and it was regard
ed largely as an experiment until
business transaction, involving several
hundred thousand dollars, was brought
to successful consummation by con
ferences over the line between the two
Massachusetts, cities. Papers were
drawn at Boston, agreed to by those
present and then read to the parties in
Lowell. Amendments were suggested
and discussed, until the document was
satisfactory to all the persons inter
eSted
Beginning Of Great System.
The news of this transaction spread
far and wide and did much to awaken
n the minds of business men a realiza
tion of the commercial possibilities O
the telephone, while it served to slim
,llate the engineers and experts EN-
nloyed by the company in their en-
beavers to perfect the system. AL
though it was possible to use the Low
ell line for business purposes, the ap
paratus was crude and imperfect il
operation But the beginning had beef
made on that career Of progress II
long distance telephony which is one o
the marvels of the modern industrial
world. From the first it was eviden
that some better conductor must b.
found than the iron wire then in us
and within six years from the date o
the Lowell experiment a hard draw
copper wire had been made and test
ed in actual operation and the abllit
to converse over long distances as tn
term is understood today, has bee
the, result Of the use of this medium.
The first experimental line in whlc
copper wire was used was that fror
Boston to. New York completed in 1873
and this was in turn followed by eXter
sions to Philadelphia and other point
7 of commercial importance so that tn
cities in the eastern section of tn
country were soon linked togethe
Then the lines We're pushed westwar
and on October 81, 1892 Prof. Bell, |
the presence of company OF distil
guished electricians and officers OF tie
;. erhore companies. spoke into tran