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Dawn of the Electric Traction Era 95 highways, even at a height of 15 to 20 feet ? Some cities opposed such a solution of the difficulty tooth and nail. It incurred setting up a dangerous prece- dent, and if the practice were once commenced there would be no saying where it would end, or what would constitute reasonable limitations. However, one city demonstrated that it was not prepared to brake the wheels of progress. Here was a decided advance upon the horse-drawn tram, in its infancy, and which ought to be encouraged be- cause it was certain to prove beneficial to the com- munity. Improvements were bound to be recorded, and the franchise could be so worded as to facilitate the removal of the overhead wires whenever an equally reliable and effective alternative method of conducting the current from the generating station to the car was perfected. The City Fathers who assumed this logical and liberal attitude were those responsible for the welfare of Kansas City. Here the first length of electric tramway was brought into public use in 1884. The success achieved at Kansas City impressed the other communities upon the North American con- tinent. Lengths of line working after this method were laid down, but it was not until 1887 that a com- prehensive complete network of electric tramways for a city was taken in hand. This was carried out by Mr. Frank Sprague for the city of Richmond, Vir- ginia. It comprised eleven miles of line, which were opened for public traffic in February, 1888, proved a great commercial success, and have been in operation ever since. The current was collected from the over- head conductor by means of a pole, at the upper