Seattle Says 'Hello' to Spokane, and the Whole Northwest Listens

Yesterday at 3 o'clock the last connection was made on the long-distance telephone between Spokane, Portland and Seattle, completing the second longest telephone line in the world, involving an outlay of nearly $250,000. The telephone people are justly proud of their great achievement and evidenced the fact by placing the line at the disposal of the public free of charge and permitting every one who so desired to say "hello" and all else he or she could think of to friends in the cities east of Portland.

Mayor Ronald was present at the opening of the line, and the first message sent over the wire was a greeting to Mayor Powell, of Spokane, who was present at the other end, and which was as follows:

"Tomorrow Seattle and Spokane will be advertised throughout the civilized portion of the world as the termini of the second longest distance telephone line on earth. I congratulate you that our two young cities in this young state should be the heralds announcing this second greatest triumph in the endeavors of science to bring the world closer together. Its first message is the greeting of Seattle, the Queen City of the Northwest, to Spokane, the metropolis of the interior, expressing the faith that fifty years from today, when Seattle, by reason of her unity of spirit and purpose, her energy, her manifest destiny, her location at the gateway where the commerce of the Occident must meet the commerce of the Orient, and of the future Island Empire destined to spring into life in the Pacific ocean, shall have attained a population of over 2,000,000, Spokane, true to her destiny, will be a fitting monument marking the pathway of progress in manufactures and improvements of the Northwest Pacific Empire."

Mayor Powell, of Spokane, answered that he had just returned home from a trip to Seattle, and he wished to congratulate this city upon the many evidences of progress and prosperity on every hand in Seattle. "This triumph of science," said he, "brings still closer together the two great cities of Seattle and Spokane, and will cement still stronger the ties of good feeling which exist between the two cities. In exchange for the coal, iron and lumber and other like products found in such plenty around Seattle, the future metropolis of the Northwestern empire, Spokane, as the metropolis of the great Inland Empire, will send the wheat, flour, precious ores and other products and manufactures of this region, and at Seattle they will meet the fleets of the world."

The line worked very well, and the voice of the speaker at the other end could be heard distinctly as if he were only a few feet away instead of 730 miles. The success of long-distance telephoning is remarkable, and this line will prove a great convenience to the public. For a man who wants to converse with a correspondent at a distance the telephone is more convenient and cheaper than the telegraph, notwithstanding the fact that the price of a three-minutes' conversation with Spokane is $4.00.

"If there had been a line like this between Seattle and New Westminster a few weeks ago it would have saved the city several dollars," said Mayor Ronald. "I wanted to talk with Cuddibee about [a matter], ask him some questions and tell him a lot of stuff. So I got him at the other end of the telegraph wire, and the operators talked $12 worth for us in less than five minutes."

"The way to use a long-distance wire," said Manager Clark, of the Seattle exchange, "is by means of engagements. When you want to talk with a man in Spokane you ring up this office or come here and ask us to get John Smith at the other end of the line at a certain hour. We call him up at the other end or send out a messenger for him, and if we can't get him will let you know it. If we do get him and he can't come at the time you want him to, he can name another hour and we will advise you. At the appointed time the line will be ready for you, and thus neither you nor your correspondent lose any time."

The route of the line is from Spokane to Garfield; thence down the Palouse river to Colfax and from there across country via Almota, Pomeroy, Dayton and Walla Walla to the Columbia river at Wallula; then down the Columbia river along the line of the Union Pacific railroad to Portland, from which point one branch leads south into the Willamette valley and the other north via Vancouver to Olympia, Seattle, Tacoma and Puget Sound points.

The section from Spokane to John Day's, on the Columbia river, 400 miles in length, is owned by the Inland Telephone and Telegraph Company, of Spokane. The section between John Day's and Portland, 165 miles, and from Portland to the north line of Clarke county, Washington, about forty miles, belongs to the Oregon Telephone and Telegraph Company, of Portland, Or., and the remaining section from the Clarke county line via Olympia, Tacoma and Seattle to Everett, about 200 miles, is the property of the Sunset Telephone and Telegraph Company, of San Francisco. Altogether the main line is over 790 miles in length.

Long-distance telephony has within the past few years been brought almost to the level of an exact science. It is an exact science in so far as whatever it attempts to do is done well and the results are assured beforehand, but it would by no means be wise to attempt to state the limits of the transmission of speech by telephone. So much has been done in improving the apparatus employed and in the construction and arrangement of lines that distances considered impossible a few years ago have been exceeded without any difficulty.

The line is No. 14 hard drawn copper metallic circuit, and is transposed every half mile. All joints in the wire are made with McIntyre sleeves, which form a thoroughly strong joint mechanically and give perfect electrical contact. The poles are of live cedar, varying in length from thirty to sixty-five feet, and are carefully selected so as to admit only the very soundest material. A special point has been made of using tall poles so as to carry the wires clear of trees and other wires. Along the Columbia river miles of heavy blasting was necessary, it often costing as much as $10 to set a single pole in the rock.