All wires were at that time wrapped with cotton, and his plan was to find some less costly material that would serve the same purpose.
One of his workmen, a Virginian, suggested the use of paper twine, which had been used in the South during the Civil War, when cotton was scarce and expensive.

Barrett at once searched the South for paper twine and found it.

He bought a barrel of it from a small factory in Richmond, but after a trial it proved to be too flimsy.

If such paper could be put on flat, he reasoned, it would be stronger.

Just then he heard of an erratic genius who had an invention for winding paper tape on wire for the use of milliners.
Paper-wound bonnet-wire! Who could imagine any connection between this and the telephone?
Yet this hint was exactly what Barrett needed.