Telephones and the Wild West

Ponderosa 6-5000? Now I'm picturing Glen Miller in a cowboy hat!

Dirt is slightly older than I but I remember party lines. My grandparents’ ring was two long rings and one short. The phone hung on the wall and had no dial. You picked it up and waited for the operator. Imagine the thrill when Mom got a radio linked call from my Dad who was in the Korean War. Thank you AT&T and some anonymous hero Ham operators who set up the link! Thanks!

Great episode yet again, Santee! That little detail about ranchers using their already existing barbed wire fences as phone lines was brilliant. Many old west towns may only have had one telephone at first so folks would stand in line for hours or wait days to make a call.

We're not rapscallions ! We're the phone company...... Glad you got the slam in on texting there at the end. When I was a kid, our phone number on the rotary dial was "Diamond (DI) 30360.

Y’know, that’s gotta be the meanest-looking impression of Lily Tomlin’s Ernestine I’ve ever seen. Apart from that, great video, Santee! And thanks very much for the mention!

I used to be a telephone operator 🤣 yes, I'm that old 🥰

We've been trying to reach you about your wagons extended warranty!!! Cool video Santee! I like when I can associate a face with a name too. Fun stuff, ain't it Jersey Red!

Another GREAT episode Santee. Thanks for all the work you put into this show. -Jed 🤠

My grand uncle was a lineman home here I remember him telling me stories of changing the clay pots on the poles

Bell would throw a fit about what we've done with the telephone. We done turned it back into the telegraph! 🤠

This channel does it all. It entertains, it informs, it includes an amazing variety of pictures, and video clips with sound. BRAVO I love the pace. 👏🤠👏🤠👏🤠👏

We're not cut purses where the phone company!!!😅😅😅😅 I love the humor that's put into these videos it's so great. Thanks again!

My mom was a telephone switchboard operator when I was a baby in the late '50s. Oh and if the phone doesn't ring , it's me.

My Aunt spent her entire career as a telephone operator for Ma Bell. They tried to promote her several times to management, but she refused. She absolutely loved being in the central distribution center of all the gossip in town !! That room full of women listened in on all the juicy calls and knew everything about everything going on :)

The Lyceum is still standing. It was a favorite watering hole for myself and friends. Lovely Pub and the restaurant served excellent food. The Lyceum is proud of it's telephone history.

Great episode. Being a child (employee) of MA BELL, I took interest. I did work on those phones that you stuck your fingers in to spin the wheel. Before that, I worked on a cord board just like your operator.

Can't wait for this episode to start! One ringy-dingy... Two ringy-dingies...

In 1986 I was working for “the phone company” and was sent to southwest Missouri below Springfield. I had heard all the stories about how farmers and ranchers ran their own wire and connected to the company facilities at a common spot. This area, while no longer used customer provided transmission wire had not increased much. I know there were a few cedar posts that were pushing seventy years and still had open wire. I enjoyed very much actually working on what I considered history. Few people in the company actually got to work on and experience an area that close to a hundred years of telephone technology in one location. I love history and I loved working in that area.

I worked at Southwestern Bell SBC after the national deregulation of AT&T. They indeed are STILL quite a powerful company. They are STILL The Phone Company!

My brother has worked as a lineman, then supervisor for Bell Telephone, then Verizon, for at least 50 years. He'd get a kick out of this episode! That telephone operator's attitude - 🤣!