Published by the Telecommunications History Group, Inc.

DENVER,

(303) 296-1221 www.telcomhistory.org Spring 2012, Vol. 16, no. 1 Jody Georgeson, Editor

Director’s Report a very good time to bring your friends and family for a tour! We’re can hardly wait for Spring The Seattle Museum of to arrive. In many parts of the Communications has expanded its country, we’ve already had spring- hours to include Sundays. They have like weather, but we know Mother already had nearly 50 Sunday Nature may have some tricks left up visitors and expect more as word her sleeve for us! Once again this gets around. If you are in or around year, we will be giving tours of the Seattle, be sure to visit. The historic Mountain States building Museum is still open on Tuesdays, during Doors Open as always. weekend, April 14th and 15th. See Thanks to many of you, dear their web site for more information. members, our Endowment fund http://www.denvergov.org/doca/Denv continues to grow. We have over erOfficeofCulturalAffairs/DoorsOpen $700,000 in the fund to date, with Denver/ more in pledges, to be realized later. We’ve been doing some Spring Our membership response continues cleaning. A volunteer crew spent the to grow as well. If you haven’t either day recently at the Lakewood, CO renewed your membership, or CenturyLink Training Center, where contributed to the endowment fund, we refurbished our displays. These please consider doing so soon. used to be in lobby of the 1005 17th Doing either (or both!) will ensure Street. that you continue to receive the Dial- Our museum in the 931 14th Log. Street building has been closed for a few months, while construction was being completed on the floor above us. So another day was spent cleaning and rearranging that museum. All of our displays are in tip-top shape, now, so this would be

1 Women’s History Month were more patient, pleasant and helpful. CenturyLink Women’s group • It was one of the first employment held a special event on March 18th opportunities for women. Others in honor of Women’s History Month. were: It was held in the MST&T o Domestic help headquarters building on the o Teachers historically preserved 14th floor, and o Telegraph operators included THG displays and museum • The Company became in-loco- tours. We also produced a women- parentis, so that parents would oriented timeline and outline of allow their daughters to work: historical interest. A lap-top in the o Lounges with matrons boardroom had links to our virtual o Classes on health and museum tour of the 931 building. deportment Jo Lynne Whiting (THG board o Could not come to or leave member) and Brenda Snyder gave work with a man a fascinating talk about the history of o Dresscodes/fashion advice the women’s organization from its o Married women not eligible start in 1979 at Mountain Bell, and its to work at company evolution through U S West, Qwest, locations (married women and now CenturyLink. could operate switch I thought you’d enjoy some boards in their own highlights from the history of women homes) in the phone company: o Chief operator was “house Operators mother” • First operators were young men, • Women in the company were given to rough-housing and foul commonly referred to as “girls” language. until the 1970s • Women were hired because they

2 • Men began to be hired as women was seen as a token, operators after the 1973 Consent since the companies had done Decree. nothing to prepare women for management assignments, so few were successful. • The 1973 Consent Decree allowed women to apply for “non- traditional jobs” such as installer, cable splicer, utility clerk, driver, etc., and to move up the ranks into management in Plant and other traditionally all male departments. (Ruthann Lundering was the 1st female service foreman) • 1977 - Blanche T. Cowperthwaite became Mountain Bell’s 1st female director. A hook was put under the table in the Board Room for her to hang her purse. • 1979 – Women in Management (WIM) was formed in Denver at

Mike Lewis, Davenport Operator,1975 Mountain Bell – Sandy st (Branson) Nance was elected 1 Women in Management president. Groups in Phoenix and • 1935 - Madge Ulrich, Glendale, Albuquerque soon followed. The AZ; was the 1st female manager organization became U S West in the Bell System Women, including all women • In most cases, women managers employees. were confined to the Commercial, • 1979 – Connie Bragg became st Human Resources and Admin. Mountain Bell’s 1 female Services Departments until the department head (Operator 1970s. Services) • Statistics published in 1969 by • 1986 – George Ann Harding st the EEOC showed that 55% of becomes Mountain Bell’s 1 Bell’s work force was female, but female officer (VP Wyoming) a woman had only a 1 in 300 Women Heroes chance of being promoted to • 233 American women served as middle management (a white operators in France, some close male’s chances were 1 in 4.5). to enemy lines, during WWI. • From 1959 until 1970, Mountain Others filled in for male telephone Bell’s Initial Management company employees here at Development Program (IMDP) home. When the troops returned, was open only to men. AT&T’s these women went back to being special assessment center for “the girls” at the switchboard.

3 • Bea Coucher, chief operator in switchboard while warning her Missoula, IBEW rep for the Rocky neighbors to flee the flood waters Mountain region in the 1920s – of the Dry Cimarron creek. was the highest-ranking woman in the nation’s labor movement at My Personal Favorite the time. She led strikes in NY By D.J. (Don) Ostrand, Curator and Chicago, though not in the the Museum of Communications Mountain States. • Susan Parks; 1916; Columbus, I've been asked to write a brief NM Mrs. Parks notified General story about a favorite, artifact in the Pershing of Pancho Villa’s attack museum. Now that should be a and kept at her switchboard as snap, but wait -- that's not so easy bullets flew. The board, with after all. bullet holes, is now in the Having been involved with the Albuquerque telephone museum. Museum of Communications in • Mildred (Millie) Lothrop; 1920 & Seattle since 1984/85, I've seen the 1940; Homer, NE – Twice in 20 collection grow to an enormous size. years, Millie saved lives as the Selection of a single item, with so Omaha Creek flooded. many to choose from, is difficult at best. Realizing that telephone service is based on what we called "central" in the old days, maybe some part of the central office switching equipment should be my favorite. We have plenty items to consider: the operational Panel Switch (sole surviving unit known to exist), the #5 XBAR (cross bar) would be good and something I worked in for part of my career; maybe the #1 XBAR as I really lack experience in that technology; I love the step switch equipment and the CX100 equipment with its 10-party lines. Without "central" there would be no need for the rest of our industry. • Etta Willcox; 1921; Williams, IA - Then I think of the rattling noise Bank robbers cut all the of working Teletype Machines (TTY) telephone and telegraph lines and they bring back memories. And into town, so night manager the "Key and Sounder" circuits that Willcox drove to a town 5 miles only existed in the movies for me, away to notify police. but were an important means of • Sally Rooke; 1908; Des Moines communications. Telephone Company; Folsom, New Mexico – Sally died at her

4 But wait -- we have a good network to the PSC. Here the service display of telephone sets from was assigned a telephone number (if beautifully polished-wood wall not pre-assigned by the BO), phones to candlesticks, to desk sets determine the cable and pair or wires and coin phones. Maybe our Silver that extend from central to the Dollar Coin Phone or the 11-digit dial service address, and assign the Strowger potbelly desk stand or our central office equipment. With those collection of colored model 302 sets added to the service order, it was (we are missing only the blue set), or distributed to the central office and maybe it would be Ted Hewitt's installation crew for action. Once the Timbuktu service was collection installed the with a repair service working and Local model 105 Test Desk magneto (LTD) switchboard. retained a The copy of the simulated service order "manhole", in file as an underground "as built" cable ducts, record if aerial cable repairs were and open necessary. wire lead The PSC complete transmitted a with poles, copy of the cross-arms, completed insulators service order and drop over the wires completion carrying network to working the billing circuits from office to start a magneto the billing switchboard. Turning the crank on a process. Our replica PSC is a rare wooden wall phone and hearing bells item, (I worked in a real one). Could ring across the room. Is the basic it be my favorite? telephone circuit my favorite or I like our displays of business maybe the new fiber optics? "on premise" equipment, too. If As I mentally go through the customers had more than one line museum we have a Plant Service the company installed a "key system" Center (PSC). When a customer or a PBX ("private business called the "business office (BO)" to exchange"). The collection displays order service, a service order was working models of both. Either type written and transmitted via a TTY of "on-premise" equipment allowed

5 multiple users to access incoming Leadville, Colorado’s calls and make outgoing calls, as Famous Phone Number well as connect to internal services by Marty Donovan utilizing fewer central office lines. Our working secretarial You never know what you might switchboard and concentrator/ dig up at The Telecommunications identifier were key elements in History Group. The archives and providing secretarial answering museums are full of all kinds of services. documents and artifacts ranging What about gadgets? Maybe from the beginnings of telephone one of our Bellboy pagers; they were usage to modern day introduced to the world at the 1962 telecommunications. Seattle World's Fair. The collection A while back I was researching of glass insulators sparkle and shine phone numbers in the 1891 in their display case. There is a copy Colorado Telephone Company of an AT&T annual report in Braille. It directory and I came across a listing might be our collection of Western for H. A. W. Tabor’s famous silver Electric consumer products like the mine, the Matchless. fan and washing machine. The 1955 That captured my interest, so I International R-140 Line Truck we delved into the history of the town’s are restoring should also be in the telephone company. The Leadville running. exchange was established in 1879 You can see my dilemma by by Western Union Telegraph visiting Company, but soon came under the www.museumofcommunications.org. ownership of the H. A. W. Tabor, So many items to pick from makes it who renamed it the Leadville extremely hard to choose just one. Telephone Company, according to I realize my very favorite item is the History of Leadville and Lake not a single item. It is the entire crew County, Colorado. that has been so dedicated over all 27 years of our museum involvement. The talent each volunteer has brought, the friendships, the challenges we have faced together and conquered, and the world class museum we have built here in Seattle, Washington is a fascinating picture of our telecommunications heritage. Thank you ladies and gentlemen for all your volunteer time, for your devotion and for the treasure you have built, the Museum of Communications. It is obvious that you care for and take pride in the museum, as much as I H.A.W. Tabor do.

6 Tabor had lines installed H. A. W. Tabor gave most of his between the Matchless office and stock in the Leadville Telephone the silver mine in the mountains Company to his first wife Augusta, in nearby. This enabled him to stay in a divorce settlement. He continued contact with his miners, a to run the Matchless Mine with his convenience which seemed beyond new wife, “Baby Doe,” and the its time. couple enjoyed a lavish lifestyle until The Leadville Telephone the silver panic of 1893, when they Company bragged that more lost most of their fortune. One of telephone calls were made during Tabor’s last instructions to Baby Doe any given day than any exchange of before his death in 1899 was to “hold its size in the United States. The on to the Matchless.” She was found number of business transactions and frozen to death in 1935 at an the ambitions of Leadville’s residents abandoned cabin nearby. contributed to the large volume of In case you were wondering, the calls made in the area. telephone listing for the Matchless According to THG’s website, the Mine in THG’s 1891 phone book is Leadville Telephone Company. In #69. 1888, the Colorado Telephone This is one of many interesting Company purchased the Leadville finds at the Telecommunications outfit. The plan was to connect History Group. Whether you are telephone lines from Leadville to researching genealogical or Denver. Lines had to be placed over historical information in our archives, Mosquito Pass, but none had ever or you would like to tour the been installed at such a high altitude, museums, THG can enrich your 13,180 feet. This endeavor was understanding of the industry and attempted three times and finally how telecommunications changes worked on the last try. The our lives and our world. connection was functional, but not particularly satisfactory to parties The Emergency Telephone: attempting to converse between the Some Memories two cities. By Don Warsavage Telephone engineers learned from the experience and designed the heavy-duty “H” fixture, which provided a much better connection between Leadville and Denver. The Colorado Telephone Company grew its business and established lines in cities throughout Colorado and New Mexico. In 1911, the Colorado, Tri-States and Rocky Mountain Bell Telephone Companies combined to form Mountain States Don Warsavage with the emergency Telephone & Telegraph Company. telephone on Longs Peak (taken by Fred Rickauer)

7 It was the summer of 1963 at recurring lightning storms; and there four a.m. when Fred Rickauer was always the wind. (retired) mounted the horse assigned to him. Rickauer was a telephone installer-repairman on loan to Estes Park, Colorado. His telephone training had taught him how to climb poles, repair telephones and shoot trouble—but nothing about riding horses. Once Fred was in the saddle, his horse set off at a trot, bouncing him up and down and heading in the wrong direction. Rickauer was a gamer; hanging on, he shouted to his foreman, voice vibrating in rhythm, “How do I steer this thing?” His foreman, however, was having troubles of his own. The

horse he swung up on had over time Image courtesy of the , earned the nickname “Snakepit,” and Rocky Mountain National Park. was trying to buck him off. Digital image Gallery, JPG #12727. This was not an uncommon beginning to the 2½ hour trek to The genesis of this storied line once again repair the emergency began with a famous and tragic telephone located at The Boulder death. Back in January 1925, Agnes Field near the summit of Longs Vaille and her partner, Walter Peak. The horses shouldn’t be Keimer, made a grueling winter blamed for hating that seven mile climb, reaching the 14,259 foot trail. It was rocky and steep. It summit of Longs Peak. It was the twisted its way up to around thirteen first successful winter climb of Longs thousand feet above sea level. And via the East Face. The weather if these horses sensed their riders’ worsened. There were high winds inexperience, they tried for a and sub-zero temperatures. Agnes different destination—back to the slipped on their descent of the North barn. Face and slid one hundred and fifty The telephone line itself was an feet to the Boulder Field where she intrusion on that beautiful, harsh eventually died of exposure. Walter environment. It was just a bracket Keimer survived but with severe circuit; a pair of wires strung on frostbite injuries. Herbert Sortland, a small, brittle poles that ran straight volunteer rescuer, lost his life in the up the side of the mountain. It was rescue attempt. frequently out of service; in winter The tragedy made headlines. because of fallen trees and drifting Agnes Vaille was an accomplished snow, in summer because of mountain climber, Secretary of the Denver Chamber of Commerce and daughter of Frederick O. Vaille, the

8 man who started the first telephone emergency phone being out of company in Denver in 1879. That service. summer of 1925, the emergency Kinney planned a job to improve telephone was established at the the electrical grounding of the Boulder Field by the Rocky Mountain emergency phone and thereby National Park, owner of the line back reduce the lightning-caused outages. then. He took two men with him - Don The Rocky Mountain National Warsavage (retired), and Bill Park maintained and repaired the Willbanks (recently deceased) - and line until 1962, when Mountain horses up to the Boulder Field. States Telephone and Telegraph contracted to take over the Longs Peak line along with all the other telephone lines in the Park. Gerry Kinney (retired) was there from the beginning. He was the Telephone Exchange Manager from 1962 to 1968. In addition to Estes Park and the National Park telephone lines, his responsibility included the smaller communities of Peaceful Valley, Allens Park, Raymond, and Glen Haven; all in Photo taken by Fred Rickauer rugged mountainous terrain. The annual population surge of returning Kinney recalled that it was summer residents, tourists and starting to cloud up in a threatening business re-openings created an way. They were preparing to leave avalanche of telephone service and he was bringing the horses demands. To help with this, Kinney down the trail to meet the other two borrowed people each year (like men. The horses became frightened Fred Rickauer) from other areas to and began pulling back. “I was help out. pretty amazed at what I saw next,” By 1963, Kinney had learned he said. “Warsavage was waving a first hand the difficulties of servicing copper ground rod around. As he the Longs Peak line, while trying to did so, the top of the rod was making balance all the other demands of the a blue-white arc in the air and it area. Already one of his crews had created a weird, electrical buzzing been caught in a lightning storm at sound. the Boulder Field. The line itself was Wilbanks was running and his knocked out of service while the rather long curly black hair was crew was returning down the standing straight up. His hands were mountain. Kinney had to be making the same bluish arcs with concerned about the safety of the each stride along with the buzzing people he sent up there, as well as sound.” The three of them gathered the potential consequences of the at the end of the Boulder Field. They got the horses under control and led them down to timberline where, to

9 the men’s relief, the only trouble was the emergency telephone played a a pelting rain. helpful role in some of those stories. None of them had ever experienced such conditions before. It was believed they had encountered a rare phenomenon associated with electrical storms referred to as static discharge, corona discharge or St. Elmo’s Fire. It took a sizeable effort to keep that emergency phone in service for over forty years. It was done through the efforts of the people of The Rocky Mountain National Park and in later years, the repairmen of the Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph Company. The phone was Shelter Cabin built in 1927, funded removed in the early seventies as by the Vaille family. the Park moved to more radio communications. The phone is The Best Way To Pray gone, along with the insulators and from Leah Be all the miles of wire. Even all the poles are gone and the environment A priest, a minister and a guru has been restored to its natural sat discussing the best positions for state. prayer, while a telephone The Rocky Mountain National repairman worked nearby. Park is a beautiful gift for the people "Kneeling is definitely the best of the United States; it will reach its way to pray," the priest said. 100th anniversary in 2015. Longs "No," said the minister. "I get the Peak, the jewel of the Park, best results standing with my hands overlooks Estes Park and is a outstretched to Heaven." magnet for thousands of hikers and "You're both wrong," the guru climbers. Those who cross the said. "The most effective prayer Boulder Field are likely to wonder at position is lying down on the floor." the awesome beauty of the peak at The repairman could contain that altitude. himself no longer. "Hey, fellas," he They are also likely to see a interrupted. "The best prayin' I ever strange looking beehive shaped did was when I was hangin' upside stone hut near the trail. It is the down from a telephone pole." Agnes Vaille Memorial. There have been many adventures on Longs Peak, most of them exciting and rewarding, some dangerous and frightening, and some tragic. It is fair to conclude that the emergency shelter hut and

10 Spring Cleaning

Jerry Wild and Ron Swanson

clean an exhibit case.

Jack Bol supervises.

11