All About Inventions and Discoveries
The Romance of modern scientific and mechanical Achievements

158 All About Inventions and the first of its type, so that Vail is deserving of full credit as the father of the trunk telephone line. As people in Salem were able to talk to folks in Boston as easily as if they were standing side by side, Vail decided to bring Boston and New York into conversational touch. It was a big job for that time, as 243 miles separated the two cities. But it was done. This success prompted Vail to embark upon a dream which he had long been nursing—talking across the breadth of the North American continent, thereby linking San Francisco with New York. The enterprise was staggering for those days, and could not be carried out in a single step. So he decided to move across the continent by instalments. Chicago, 900 miles distant, was his first objective, and on October 18th, 1892, Mr., now Dr., Alexander Gra- ham Bell inaugurated this section by carrying out the first conversation by telephone between New York and Chicago. But the initial move across the continent at first proved a dismal failure. Neither New York nor Chicago regarded the innovation with enthusiasm. Commercial men in the two cities preferred the mail or the telegraph, although both were hours slower. Vail strove might and main to educate the public to the advantage of talking over the wire between the two points, but without success. The line was a failure; so much so in fact that it became nicknamed “ Vail’s Folly.” But suddenly it woke up. Com- mercial men and private residents realised that they were by no means such hustlers as they professed to be. Forthwith there ensued a rush for talking between the two cities, and the popularity of the line grew