The Topeka state journal., 1906-06-21
MILLION IN WIRE.
Telephone Toll Line From Salt
Lake to Chicago.
viii Be Eighteen Hundred Miles
in Length.
FIRST DENVER LINE.
Now No Connections Between
Topeka and Mountains.
Bell Company Locating Engineer
FIRST DENVER LINE.
Bell Company Locating Engineer
in Topeka Today.

Work viii be commenced at once by
the Bell Telephone company on the
longest toll line connection in the Unit
ed states at cost of s1.0o0,OO0. Topeka
will be the center Of the line which will
extend unbroken from salt Lake City
on the west to Chicago on the east, 1900
miles straightaway.
The announcement was first made
this noon. Mr.. HUI, a locating engineer
from Chicago. was in the city this morn
ing going over the proposed route which
viii extend from Kansas City straight
as the fight of a bird through north
eastern Missouri, the southeastern tip
of Iowa. through Illinois TO Chicago.
Leaving Kansas City and Topeka the
line win follow the valley Of the Ar
kansas river, passing through the towns
Of Emporia, Hutchinson, Garden City,
Dodge City and through Coolidge to Den
yer. From Denver connections are made
with Salt Lake City
The western part of the United States
has no talking connection with the east
4 gap in the line which takes so miles
to span stretches from Coolidge, Kan
sas the extremity Of the western end
of the Bell telephone lines Of the east
to the eastern extremity of the Bell lines
in the Rocky Mountain district at
Holley, Colorado. This is the nearest
touching point of the two halves. Not
only viii this gap be bridged but a toll
lire viii be built of heavy copper weigh
ing $50 pounds to the mile, straight from
the cities nesting in the mountains to
Chicago. a distance of 100 miles. The
cost will approximate 100000. Work
will commence at once and it is expect
ed that by December / the last pole
VIII have been set and the last mile of
wire stretched
From a business standpoint the con-
structiOn of this toll line is one Of great
importance. 1t makes it possible for
the entire intermOuntain region of the
west to get in connection with the At
lantc seabOard cities Theoretically the
toll line connection viii have a distance
of $500 miles from Salt Lake City to
Boston. but it is impossible to talk this
distance and messages would have to be
relayed.
Locally, the line viii be of importance
to Topeka. It's the plan of the com
pany," said J. K. Henderson. special
agent of the Bell company, of Chicago.
Ito make Topeka the center of big
system Of connections It will be pOssi-
Bile upon the construction of the line in
point for Topeka to talk directly to
cities in Oklahoma and the Indian Ter
ritory instead Of talking through Kan
sas City. 1t also has the same import
ance for Topeka that a transcontinental
railroad would have OF course, all the
cities and towns off of the main trunk
line will be able to feed in on this Ioll
line and secure long distance connee-
ton.
Wichita and the other cities will be
able to get direct either to Denver or the
east. Before this the longest toll line
has been one from New York to Arkan-
sas which is about 500 miles. There
has been no direct line to Chicago from
fTnnalya Whom fnI1~ir7cr
had to talk about by way Of St Louis,
three hundred miles further than the
direct line under construction. Upon
the completion of this work we will have
a toll line mileage in the United States
and Canada Of 1900, 600 miles Before
1898 we had 100000 patrons. since that
time we have increased that four fold
and more until it is now $500, ,OOO"
The line Will prove that considerable
business will be transacted between To-
peka and Denver said s. T. Howe. dis
trict manager 7 am assured that we
viii do a large business between this
town and Denver
Locally some important construction
work will be commenced. All the tele-
phone poles which are now on West
Eighth and West Sixth avenues win be
taken down and a conduit carrything
these lines to the west portion of the
city viii be built in the alley soufh Of
Sixth avenue and from jackson street fo
Horne street Another system Of con
duits viii be constructed north from
Fifth street to the Kansas river. The
conduit viii be laid in the alley between
jackson street and Kansas avenue. The
work will be completed by fan Con
struction will commence within the next
month
Counting these conduits about to be
constructed the Bell Telephone company
VIII have conduit system Of three ana
ohe-haH miles. giving % miles of wire
room in the city