Gore invented the internet but who was ...

first with networking?

After having dug to a depth of 10 feet last year, New York** Scientists
found traces of copper wire dating back 100 years and came to the
conclusion, that their ancestors already had a telephone network more
than 100 years ago.

Not to be outdone by the New Yorkers, in the weeks that followed, a
California archaeologist dug to a depth of 20 feet, and shortly after, A
story in the LA Times read: "California archaeologists, finding of 200
year old copper wire, have concluded that their ancestors already had an
advanced high-tech communications network a hundred years earlier than
the New Yorkers"

One week later. A local newspaper in Oregon reported the following:
"After digging as deep as 30 feet in his pasture near Burnt Woods,
Oregon. Bubba, a self-taught archaeologist, reported that he found
absolutely nothing. Bubba has therefore concluded that 300 years ago,
Oregon had already gone wireless".