Light for the City Edison and his assistants came to New York to set up an electric power system. They hoped it would provide enough electricity to light up a part of the great city. They bought several machines with them. These were called generators , which produced electricity power for lamps in Edison's building. Soon there were lights for the building. Edison lived in a room facing the street and he often worked over night. The light burned brightly and steadily and he often worked over night. People often came and stopped their horse-drawn carriage to look. Everyone knew that Thomas Edison was in town. First, the inventor and his assistants produced several large generators. A great deal of power would be needed to light up even a small part of the city. Then the workers were busy digging deep trenches in the hard earth below the city streets, and Edison had fourteen miles of wire laid into the trenches. The wire connected each building to a generator. Setting up an electric power system was not an easy job. It took a year and a half. In September, 1882, the job was finished. A small group of men stood around Edison inside the power house. The big moment came at last. The inventor, taking a deep breath, pulled a switch. The electric lights flashed up. "Very good! Very good!" a man nearby shouted to praise Edison for what he had done. "Sir," said Edison, "this is only the beginning!" And Edison was right. Soon Edison's lamp were lighting up cities all over the world. It took a year and a half to   _  .
set up the electric system produce several large generators dig the deep trenches lay fourteen miles of wire into the trench