The Telecommunications History Group, Inc.

Below you'll find the Spring 2007 issue of Dial-Log, the Telecommunications History Group's quarterly newsletter. To return to the current issue, or to access other back issues, click the Back button on your browser or click here.

Spring 2007, Vol. 11, No. 1 Jody Georgeson, EDITOR

Contents

Director's Report
THG Board of Directors
In Memory: E. Reed Turnquist
Book Review: Characters of the Information and Communication Industry
What an Operator!
Milo and Roy's (Second) Excellent Adventure
Endowment Fund Established
Staff News
Looking Back

Director’s Report
By Jody Georgeson

We're finally in our new quarters and have the majority of our collections in place. Give us a call if you're in the area--we'd love to show off our new space.

I want to thank all of our volunteers who helped (and are still helping) with the move. A particular thanks to members of the Blue Spruce Life Member Club who came in for a grueling day of toting boxes: George Fisher, Morris Meese, Bob Orton, Jim Osse, and Bill Turner. Thanks, guys!

2006 was a busy one for us. Aside from the move (which felt like it took all year!), THG mounted an Internet tour of the historic Mountain States Telegraph and Telephone Company headquarters building. The site allows people to "visit" the historical building, and to learn the history of the building and the telephone industry.

We worked with educators to develop a "learning kit" for distribution to schools to provide hands on learning to children in grades 3-8. The kit includes curriculum modules for geography, language arts, science and mathematics in accordance with the State of Colorado and Denver Public Schools standards. We answered nearly 1,500 calls and email messages in 2006, regarding industry, historical and related questions. We made several formal presentations to civic and school groups, and conducted tours involving over 2,000 visitors to the museums and archives.

Our volunteers in Denver and Seattle logged nearly 10,000 hours. Seattle mounted an ambitious audio tour, which allows visitors to go on a self-guided tour of the museum. For those of you outside of Seattle, much of the tour is now on our website at: http://www.telcomhistory.org/vm/exhibitsSeattle.shtml.

We look forward to continuing to be a source of knowledge and entertainment for researchers, students, the business community and our members. I hope you continue to enjoy this newsletter. Please let me know of any subjects you'd like us to tackle.

THG Board of Directors
January 1, 2007

O’Boyle, James, President
Vice President, Marketing, MB (ret.)

Mary P. Riffle, Vice President
Director, Local Network, Qwest (ret.)

Darrow, John C., Secretary
Senior Software Developer, (ret.)
Qwest/U S WEST/MediaOne/MB

DeMuth, Laurence W. Jr.
EVP General Counsel & Secretary (ret.)
U S WEST, Inc.

Doerr, Howard P.
EVP/CFO (ret.) U S WEST, Inc.

Herbolich, John J.
Telecommunications Consultant

Jacobs, W. O. (Fred)
Executive VP & Chief Operating Officer; MB (ret.)

Laird, Pamela W.
Professor, Business History, CU-Denver

Lindblom, Thomas W.
Colorado Vice President (ret.)
U S WEST

McClellan, Scott
VP Washington, U S WEST/Qwest (ret.)

Ostrand, Donald J.
Director
Museum of Communications

Warrick, Herbert H. Jr.
AVP Special Services & Engineering
Pacific Northwest Bell (ret.)

Whiting, Jo Lynne
Vice President, Qwest Dex (ret.)

Wirtzfeld, Carey
Director, Qwest Foundation and
Volunteer Programs

Directors Emeritus
Robert K. Timothy
President, Mountain Bell (ret.)

Robert E. Runice
Vice President, U S WEST (ret.)
President, Commercial Development

In Memory
E. Reed Turnquist
August 27, 1935-March 11, 2007

THG Director Reed Turnquist died peacefully at home surrounded by his family on Sunday, March 11. Hired as an engineer in 1958 by Mountain Bell, his role at the company grew and after 35 years of dedicated and successful service, he retired as a vice president from U S West. Reed is survived by his wife, Donna, four children, 5 grandchildren, his mother, and a sister and brother. The family has suggested that contributions to the American Red Cross or the American Cancer Society will be greatly appreciated.

Book Review
By George Howard

Characters of the Information and Communication Industry
By Richard F. Bellaver
(Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse, 2006), paperback, 373 pp.

Dick Bellaver worked at AT&T headquarters before becoming a professor at Ball State University. He now teaches a graduate course, and the papers submitted by his students formed this book. A survey of the early people in telecommunications includes, among many others in this book, such “characters” as Johann Gutenberg (as in the "Gutenberg Bible"), Charles Babbage, (the grandfather of modern computing), Samuel F.B. Morse (the telegraph), Alexander Graham Bell (telephone); Guglielmo Marconi (radio), Lee DeForest (the vacuum tube), David Sarnoff (television), David Packard and William Hewlett (computers), Edward R. Murrow (television reporting), Harold Greene (the judge who presided over the break-up of the Bell System), and Bill Gates (software).

Theodore Vail entered the infant (and chaotic) telephone business in 1878, as manager of the Bell Telephone Company in New York. He was an organizer, raising capital for the new company; restructuring the business so that local promoters used their own capital to organize local Bell Telephone companies under license from the parent; and establishing uniform 5-year contracts (licenses) for all operating companies.

With corporate reorganization in 1880, Vail became the chief operating officer of the Bell organization, and he organized a monopoly that included three parts – local service, long-distance service, and manufacturing (Western Electric). In 1885, AT&T was organized to own the long-distance lines (as a subsidiary of the American Bell company), and Vail was president of the new enterprise. With a change in control of the American company, Vail left Bell service in 1887.

Vail’s second period of telephone service began in 1907, after the J.P. Morgan interests took control of the Bell System (then known as AT&T – the former subsidiary gobbled up its parent). Morgan installed Vail as president of AT&T, and Vail promptly commenced a program of consolidation – purchasing many independent (non-Bell) telephone companies. Upon Morgan’s death in 1913, Vail had more freedom to be his own man, and indeed, from then until his own death in 1920, he became the undisputed leader of AT&T and the senior statesman of the entire telephone industry.

The stories of the individuals in the telecommunications industry are many, and this book is both entertaining and informative. For those who worked in the former Bell System, and for those who are associated with telephone companies of today, this book will help them to understand the rich history of the industry and how things got to be the way they are.

A search of the Internet web site www.bookfinder.com shows that the book is available from a number of stores in the price range of $40 to $45. You can purchase this book from the publisher, AuthorHouse, by contacting them at 1-800-839-8640, or through their web site, www.authorhouse.com, where the book is priced at $39.95.

Because we don't understand the brain very well, we're constantly tempted to use the latest technology as a model for trying to understand it. In my childhood we were always assured that the brain was a telephone switchboard. (What else could it be?) And I was amused to see that Sherrington, the great British neuroscientist, thought that the brain worked like a telegraph system. Freud often compared the brain to hydraulic and electromagnetic systems. Leibniz compared it to a mill, and now, obviously, the metaphor is the digital computer.

John R. Searle,
philosophy professor (1932- )

What an Operator!

Kristine Mazzulo of the national Telecom Pioneers organization passed along this photo and accompanying letter to us.

"My name is Rosalie Deeds . . .This was taken in the Dearborn office of the then Illinois Bell in Chicago in 1944. I was 26 at the time. (I'm now 88 and retired since 1981 - seems unreal at times.)"

Our thanks to both Kristine and Rosalie for sharing the picture, which is so evocative of the WWII era.

Milo and Roy's (Second) Excellent Adventure
By Milo Masura

Last fall, Milo and Roy Lynn, made another trip to Montana to work on the Forest Service's magneto phone system. Here's a page from Milo's trip diary. To see the whole diary, and more pictures, go to the Volunteers page on our website.

Saturday, September 2, 2006
We started our day and this log at the Wal-Mart in Kalispell, Mt., where we bought some supplies and spent Friday night. It was a short drive east on US Highway 2 to Martin City, where we turned south and drove the east side road along Hungry Horse Reservoir. The trip of 53 miles to Spotted Bear Ranger Station took about two hours, with us arriving at noon. There are no polite words that would be fitting to describe the condition of the dirt road. Later we had to put everything back together in the 5th wheel and vacuum the dirt out. We doubted the logic of ever going down the road again with a camper.

We...got reacquainted [with the crew], and unloaded all the tools and parts into the telephone maintenance room. We installed the replacement parts that were ordered and waiting for us at Spotted Bear. One of the units we rebuilt in Denver worked as expected; the other seemed to have developed some trouble in transit.

We made a stop at the food cache, and got some steak and trimmings for dinner. After working on the mess in the trailer, we made dinner. Excellent! We sure did not go hungry! We then tried to set up the satellite dish. Absolutely no luck! No clear view of the southern sky. Life is tough in the backcountry.

Sunday, September 3, 2006
Day two started with Aaron Klug, our wrangler for the trip, meeting us at the RV. We shared a very relaxing breakfast and made up a list of objectives and the required tools to accompany us into the “Bob” (The Bob Marshall Wilderness Area) at 6:30 A.M. tomorrow morning. Our work for the day involved building mounting brackets and securing ground rods for the two trail phones that we repaired and needed to install.

One of the very nice things about the crew at Spotted Bear is the social atmosphere and teamwork displayed in getting us ready for the trip. In the evening we were invited to a birthday barbeque for Brian, one of the rangers stationed at Spotted Bear. We had a great time seeing the team together in a social atmosphere.

Later we separated our personal gear (including fishing poles) to be boxed for the trip out. Aaron mentioned a lake outside of Salmon Forks where some of the best fishing is reported. Hopefully, we will be able to tell all kind of fish stories. We ended the day with a whiskey, cigar, and the retelling of fishing stories.

Monday, September 4, 2006
Labor Day
We met at the barn at 6:30 (still quite dark), dropped off our equipment, and went back to the RV, where we shut the systems down, parked the truck, and walked back to the barn. Milo was introduced to Morley, and Roy to Wylie. Loaded the equipment, horses, and mules and drove to the trailhead where Laird Syder (volunteer trailhead host) greeted us. He has performed this function for several years and has an interesting camp set up.

Just as we started to get into line, Morley decided to give us a bucking show, the dust flew and all the horsy treats flew out of the saddlebags. Aaron swapped horses with Milo, and then after a few miles ole Morley decided to behave and the horses were swapped again. Our pack train was comprised of three horses and three pack mules.

The trip went slowly for we passed three private outfitters, which can be quite a challenge. The river crossings were quite mundane compared to last year when the river was high.

Our 3:00 arrival at Black Bear Cabin was uneventful. We downloaded the gear, performed the normal phone maintenance, and found the phone had a defective ringer. Fortunately, the cabin had a remote ringer and we just disconnected the main ringer and used the remote ringer as the main ringer. The ground system checked out to be in excellent shape and required no additional work. Operationally checked the phone to Big Prairie and found it to be excellent shape.

Aaron made dinner of steak, potatoes, and veggies. He also called ahead to Big Prairie and put in an ice cube order. We have to keep Aaron around! Called it a day and hit the sack.

Tuesday, September 5, 2006
We packed and left Black Bear for Salmon Forks, a nine-mile trip. One of the mules, DO, (Dee Oh) decided to show mule-like behavior when crossing the suspension bridge at Black Bear.

The weather was excellent, tee- shirt weather. The horses were acting up a bit; Morley liked to do a few crow hops at odd intervals and Roy’s horse, Wiley, had suspension problems.

Salmon Forks' phone system needed a lot of work. First we were to replace a trail phone that was damaged in the ’03 fire. One of the first things we had to do was to recover the wire out of the burnt trees so we could work on it. Aaron climbed the burned trees like he had been doing it since the second grade. Actually he had competed several times in forestry skills competition. The trees were charred black with a sub-stantial layer of charcoal even after three years.

Needless to say, after three trees worth of pulling and replacing wire, Aaron was a good candidate for a blackface movie part.

Our organizational skills left a bit to be desired for we had to make several trips back to the cabin to get further tools. We pulled, straightened, and re-drove the ground rod. We attached mounting brackets, bolted on the trail phone, wired in the cutoff switch, the lead wire, and the ground wire. Aaron was very interested in accomplishing the whole job, and after his first installation, we are confidant that he is able to do it without us. Aaron had the honor of making the first phone call to Big Prairie. The phone worked beautifully. A moment worth remembering for the three of us!

Now we had to work on the phone in the cabin. We drove an extra ground rod, but it deflected off a rock and it should be pulled, straightened, and re-drove (driven?) or another should be installed alongside. We then improved the water catch basin at the ground rods. The wall phone had an intermittent problem in the handset cord; no spare 3-wire cord. The transmitter seemed to have a mushy output problem, but it does communicate. How about calling it “capable of intelligible speech transmission.”

We are going to recommend that they pull the unit, install one of the spares, and send the unit to Denver where we have the facilities to do adequate bench level testing and repair. The main line to cabin line needs a new insulator and a wire clamp. There are always problems when you do not have the spare parts to finish up the job.

In all, the three of us were quite proud of the work we accomplished after the ride in, and before dinner. Did not get around to any fishing though! Tomorrow is another Day!

Endowment Fund Established

The Telecommunications History Group is establishing an endowment fund for the purpose of ensuring the preservation and maintenance of our Museum of Communications in Seattle. The estate of Richard and Beverly Bendicksen was among the first to make a gift to the fund. Dick and Bev were a major influence in building and sharing the museum and its wonderful story. It was their desire to assist the museum in its efforts to preserve the tele-communications industry heritage. Details will soon be available for others wishing to remember us in their estate planning.

In the meantime, you may contact either:

Don Ostrand, Curator
phone: 206-767-3012
email: qwest541@qwest.net

or

Jody Georgeson, Executive Director phone: 303-296-1221
email: telcomhist@aol.com

Staff News

I'm sorry to report that Marty Donovan, our THG secretary for the past year, will be leaving as of April 12. She has accepted a full-time position with EndPoint Direct Marketing of Denver.

Marty is not only an excellent secretary, but a delight to be around. We'll miss her sorely, but wish her luck in her new position.

If you, or someone you know has clerical experience and is interested in a part-time (ten hours per week) position, please contact me at 303-296-1221 or telcomhist@aol.com. We sure can use the help! br>

Looking Back

20 years ago…
The first "triennial review" of the modification of Final Judgment (MFJ) took place in 1987. Among other rulings, Judge Greene allowed the local exchange companies to participate in the information services market, but upheld the ban on equipment manufacturing and long distance provisioning.

40 years ago…
On May 11, 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson received a gold Trimline® phone with Touch-Tone service. He was presented with the gold phone to commemorate installation of the 100-millionth phone in the U.S.

60 years ago…
The first nationwide strike in telephone history began on April 7, 1947. The strike lasted 44 days and involved at one time all but five operating companies and some 370,000 employees, including 60,000 from Western Electric.

80 years ago…
The first combined handset telephone, the model 102, was introduced in the Bell System in 1927. A combined handset put the transmitter mouthpiece and the receiver earpiece into a single instrument that could be held in one hand. Initially a higher rate, usually twenty-five cents per month for two years, was charged for these new sets.

We wish you and your families a busy, happy summer full of fun and flowers!

© 2007 The Telecommunications History Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.