The world´s longest telephone cable

Within the next month, the world´s longest telephone cable, connecting New York and Chicago, will go into service. It is 861 miles long and for 717 miles of its length it is carried above ground on some 36,000 poles. For the remaining 144 miles this cable runs underground. Construction of the cable began seven years ago and when put into service it will provide 250 channels for telephonic communication and 500 for telegraph messages. This new cable is the first step in a system which will connect many important centers in the more densely populated parts of the United States.