The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1915-01-26
.TELEPHON|NG FROM
ATLANTIC TO Pacific
A. q. Bell, Original Inventor, talk.
Across Country


Watson, His Early Assistant, al
Other End
NEW YORK. January 25.-Late yes,
terday afternoon in an ONCE within sight
OF the Statue Of Liberty. DR.. Alexander
Graham Bell. the inventor OF the teie-
phone. talked over q line. the route of
which IL 5.1C0 miies long. TO Thomas A.
Watson. In San francisco. This IL the
first time in history that the voice OF
man has leaped in a single bound from
the Atlantic to the Pacific, and yester.
days conversation between DR.. Bell and
Mr.. Watson repeats one Of the most
thrilling Incidents of scientific history.
Mr.. Watson was Bells assistant dur
ing the long. trying months Of his early
experiments. and he It was who first
heard the sound OF q human voice over
wire when In the basement OF o
machine shop In Boston. forty years ago.
he heard the first crude instrument shape
the words. "Mr Watson, come here.
want you spoken by Bell from room
above.
"Ahoy, Ahoyi Can you hear me7-
asked br. Boil. to-day. and instantly
there was nurmur in the receiver
audible to everyone in the room. Out
in San Francisco in the Offices Of the
Pacific Telephone G Telegraph Com.
pany, Thonas a. Watson had heard the
voice OF his old-time associate signalling
In the manner they had employed In
their earliest experiments, and had
answered: 81 can kear perfectly"
Colonel Cocktails has made It possible
for ship to pass from the Atlantic to
the Pacific in eight hours; DR.. Bells
voice yesterday leaped across the wires
from New York to San Francisco in
1-15th of second. In these days Of
meter guns and submarines, the aver.
age American has come to accept each
new wonder as matter of course. It is
tho American way of doing things. We
have used the telephone for forty years
and the average American says: eff ]
can talk hundred miles over tele.
phone, why not three thousandT And
SO. for years a corps OF moro than $50
engineers and scientists In the Bell
Organization have bent every energy
toward the means of protecting and
helping onward the tiny voice impulses
as they have reached out, mile after
mile, to greater and greater distances
In 1876 tho limit was two miles. from
Boston to Cambridge. and one had to
have pretty sharp ears and pretty
good voice at that; 1884 saw Boston and
New York linked: then the 300 miles 70
Chicago were bridged in '9b. One after
the other came Omaha, Denver and Salt
Lake City. Yesterday the oceans were
linked by great talk canal over whose
copper strands Bell and hundred ON
cials and business men who attended the
celebration sent their voices in electrical
waves, at the rate Of 1000 per second,
from coast to coast.
The celebration was held In the ONCE
Of Theodore " Vail. President Of the
American Telephone & Telegraph Com
pany. at the New York end. and in an.
office OF the Pacific Telephone & Tele.
graph Company. at San Francisco. Be.
tween these two points 10000 special
poles have been erected. carrying two
complete circuits OF four wires. each
3.400 miles in length. At frequent in.
tervals along this line special coils were
introduced to strengthen and hold the
tiny current and almost countless In.
ventions and tricks of the telephone
scientists skill have been used to make
the transmission perfect.
At New York, the men who witnessed
the demonstration Included Mayor
Mitchell, other city and state officials. a
number of prominent business men: J.
J. Carly, the Chief Engineer OF the
American Telephone & Telegraph Com.
pany. who has directed the entire work
of planning. building and opening the
line: Thomas b. Doolittle, who first In.
vented what is known as ''hard-drawn
copper WIRE" and many other telephone
officials. while small group gathered In
San Francisco.
In New York the time was about 0
o'clock. while in San Francisco, by rea.
son of the longitudinal difference be-
tween the two points, the time wa,
about 2 O'clock.
Adding to the marvel of the talk itself.
Theodore n. Vail. the President OF the
company, was connected to the line from
JelSyll Island. OF the coast of Florida.
When 1t was found that Mr.. Vail could
not be in New York. this additional line
was arranged so that both he and DR..
Bell, together with other telephone and
civic officials. could talk across the
country.
At the White House President Wilson
spoke into the mouthpiece of his tele-
phone and his voice was whirled across
thirteen States to the shores Of the
Pacific.
From New York the new line sweeps
down first to the outskirts of Philadel-
phia, leaps across the susquehanna, zig.
Gags up and down the Alleghenies. dips
into the murk of Pittsburgh, goes
straight on through Ohio and Indiana to
the windy City OF Chicago. then ira.
verses the plains. crossing Missouri at
Omaha, and then It runs along the very
brink Of the Grand Canyon and up over
the snow-capped peaks of Pueblo and
the lofty City of Denver; then It turns
northwest to Salt Lake City and dips
down through the foothills of the Rock
les, past the orange orchards OF Cali
fornia and finally crosses the sacra-
mento River to San Francisco. From
the Statue of Liberty to the Golden Gate,
at the rate of $4,000 miles second
infinitely less than the wink of an eye.
Shortly before 5 o'clock hush fell
upon the group of about one hundred
men ut each end of the line and Mr..
Vail, in q room on Jekyll Island, near
Jacksonville. Florida, was told that all
was ready. It was DR.. Bells hour of