The Economy of Good Insulation, Brooks mentioned

The Economy of Good Insulation.

OVER twenty years since a plain, ungalvanized No. 10 wire was taken down from the turnpike in Ohio and Indiana by the telegraph company, and placed on the line of the Michigan Central Railroad. The resistance of this line was so great it was of little or no use in rain, and was finally turned over to the railroad company. The railroad company had difficulty in working their wires with a large number of relays in the circuit in rain. In 1868 the railroad company reinsulated with Brooks insulators their wires - two in number - from Detroit to Chicago. One was a galvanized No. 9, the other this plain old wire. It was the intention of the company to replace the old wire with new galvanized, but it was found that, with the insulation, the old wire could be worked at full capacity in rain over three hundred miles, the entire circuit, when a new No. 6 wire upon common insulators, belonging to the telegraph company, was worked with great difficulty and at a very slow rate of speed. This old wire is still in use and doing good service, although the resistance is nearly one hundred units per mile.

Query. - How many thousands of dollars have been spent in replacing wires that would have done good service for years with good insulation?