In 1941 the Bell System started construction of buried cable between Omaha, Nebraska, and the West Coast. This cable route traverses the plains of Nebraska, the mountains of Wyoming and the salt flats of Utah as well as the rugged country of Nevada and California. Many unusual construction problems were met and solved during this undertaking, which was completed in 1942. The cable was plowed into the ground using special equipment instead of being placed in conduit as normally installed in city streets.
Among the problems connected with the placing of the cables along this route was that of possible corrosion of the buried cables. The experience of several oil and gas companies having underground pipe lines near the proposed route of these cables was found to be very useful in solving our problem. Their experience indicated that more substantial protection against sheath corrosion than that afforded by the usual...
