CHAPTER III 



The Transcontinental Telephony Project 

 A. PLANNING THE PROJECT 



FROM what was said regarding the 1908-09 Pacific Coast trip and 

 Carty's analysis of the engineering situation early in 1909, and the 

 accounts of the subsequent development work, there should be no occasion 

 for surprise in the statement that the extension of the westward limit of 

 commercial telephony to Denver in 1911 set in motion a planned series of 

 new development and research projects for the specific purpose of achieving 

 transcontinental telephony. It should not be inferred, however, that early 

 in 1909 a complete, detailed, plan had been worked out and approved, and 

 was ready to be carried out on a rush basis upon receipt of the go-ahead 

 signal from the chief executive. Otherwise, it would not have been neces- 

 sary to engage in the new studies and the planning work during the period 

 November 1910-April 1911 which preceded the beginning of the neces- 

 sary new fundamental researches on the telephone repeater and line prob- 

 lems. 



Mr. Carty's memorandum of April 9, 1909 to Mr. Thayer, previously 

 mentioned, outlined a broad plan, one part of which involved learning how 

 to load 165 mil open-wire circuits, but knowing in advance that that step 

 would not get beyond Denver. The other part, of greater basic importance 

 but much more complicated and less predictable, involved the repeater 

 research problems. These parts were carried out in orderly sequence. 



The short story of the transcontinental line given in the Alfred Bigelow 

 Paine biography of Mr. Vail, "In One Man's Life" (1921), indicates that 

 business policy and financial questions were factors in timing the go-ahead 

 signal to Carty. This account, however, blithely ignores the engineer's 

 technical problems in developing the necessary new instrumentalities, and 

 the inherent uncertainties. Emphasis was placed on costs. Some of the 

 directors conceded it would be a good thing to do, but believed the venture 

 would not pay. Vail finally decided, "Oh, well, if it is a good thing let's do 

 it, anyhow". He was looking forward to a fulfillment of the company's 

 objective of universal service which had been clearly pictured in the original 

 incorporation papers of the American Company in 1885. 



It should be emphasized here that the transcontinental project planning 

 by the engineers did not wait until the Denver line had been placed in com- 

 mercial service, since long before then they were confident of its success. 



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