After reading more Tesla. I saw some clues to what he saw.
"The steps to be taken which I recognized then as absolutely necessary were, first, that I had to produce electric oscillations of the required character.
Now, granted that I had them, it still remained to be shown how these oscillations could be transformed into some sort of vibratory energy capable of penetrating into the distance.
Therefore, the second step was the transformation of these oscillations into such form of energy as would go to a distance.
To develop methods of and apparatus for reception, to collect the energy at any point, was the third step.
The fourth step was to isolate the energy. If I simply transmitted energy in all directions without regard to its use, then that energy would be simply lost in space, and it would be no economical system. Consequently, I had to devise means to isolate that energy, and this problem again presented itself in two aspects, active and passive; that is, I had to make the transmitter non-interfering, and I had to make it non-interferable. Those are not two identical problems, but both had to be solved.
Finally, as to the fifth step, I found that we could never transmit energy, or construct our machines and apply them with understanding, unless we discovered the laws according to which this energy ****flows through the planet****, laws which would enable us to calculate accurately the energy we are to receive at any point, and to design our machines to suit the work."
Now I understand he is talking about his power system but it gives me some information that oscillations by them selves is not what he was transmitting. He had to transform the oscillation into something that could go to the furthest reaches.
As a note:
" I insisted on the very largest capacity that could be attained because, according to my theory, which has since, of course, been confirmed, the amount of current that flows through such a system is proportionate to that capacity."
Remember this was a voltage current and the capacitor uses such a current so to speak. The capacitor is the transformer in this case.
"I had an adjustable condenser that I used in series with an inductance coil and the secondary I was then operating exhibited all the phenomena which have been described in the lecture."
https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/pages/US454622-0.png"The condenser has the effect of magnifying very much the current, this magnification being proportionate to the ratio of the inductance to the resistance of the circuit, and that rate was very great."