The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-12-18
Butte's Smoke Doesn't Make the
Telephone Cough.
ITS IN HIGH PUBLIC FAVOR
In Recent Times the Service Has Been
Much Improved and People Can't
Get Along Now With
but a Phone.

In the union, and particularly in Butte.
where that Indispensable instrument Is
used to a great extent. Fifteen years
ago in his city the phone was more Of
an ornament than al actual necessity.
Then the customer was satisfied TO
get the man over the wire, not
taking into account the failure to catch
every word uttered. The invention in
those days was welcomed as a novelty.
and a great lea OF pleasure was de-
rived in efforts to make one another
understood owe the wire. II the failure
was complete the customer would
roast the girl in the central Office
and walk over to his neighbours and
tell him his story and together they
would discuss the possibilities of the
telephone, each. however. satisfied In
his own mind that 1t was a sad failure
n time would prove the correctness
OF their verdict. 1t did require tim TO
prove hat the old systems and equip
ment were failures, but the defects
were the bases of improved ideas. from
which were evolved the perfect system
and equipment which Butte now enjoys
and could not without serious loss to
business dispense with. To use a quo
tation, the dream of the telephone
found its expression in the work of
Wheatstone in 1870. Bourseul improved
upon Wheatstone in 1854. Refs made
another advance in 1861. but complete
fulhllment did not come until 1876. when
Alexander Graham Bell produced his
perfect instrument" Since then the
phone has become one of the necessi-
ties of civilization.
The telephone company in Butte has
- A.. H. -. -.
the very liberal patronage IL receives
from the citizens, business and private.
The traveller and tourist return to their
eastern homes with praise of the tele-
prone service of Butte on their lips.
They note it's superiority. In this city
this year the company has materially
increased its plant. Recently
a mile of 10O-wire cable has
been strung. A new multiple
long distance toll board has just been
installed; this was mad necessary by
the increase OF business. one operator
not being able TO do all Of the work.
The old iron wire has been replaced
with new No. 10 copper wire. About
$50 miles of this new wire has been
strung. Hereafter nothing but copper
will be used.
In addition to this a through line OF
No. G copper wire is to be strung sll
over the system. This TO be known as
the overland wire used altogether for
through conversation. The extension to
Wallace. Idaho. now in the very last
stages of completion, is also Of copper,
and that part of the line crossing the
divide between Montana and Idaho IS
No. 6 copper double wire, making about
900 pounds of metal TO the mile.
The completion of the Wallace line
places Butte in direct communication
with San Diego, Cal. over the Inland.
Oregon and Sunset telephone lines of
the coast. This is one of the longest
circuits in the world. about $500 miles.
Arrangements are being mad In this
city to place all of the telephones out
side of the three-quarter radius on the
metallic circuit with long-distance
equipment. To do this II will be neces-
sary to duplicate the plant, supplying
a double instead of a single wire. thus
rendering the service nearer perfect.
BY this arrangement the outside pat
ron will be able 10 hear as clearly and
distinctly as the man in the city only a
block away from his listener. Next
year the company will put in a new
1,0O0-drop board in the city central Of
flee to be of the latest and most improv-
ed style and equipment. Another impor-
tant work planned for next season Is
the building of a line south from Dillon
to Idaho Falls to connec with the line
4 now III COuTSt VI tbUSAI uIAlOn dlDib II
o. S. L., taking In Boise n Hunting
ton, Ore. By these connections, Mon
tana will be given another through cir
cult to coast points.
During this year the line in this stat,
has been extended about 200 miles, TAX
ing in the new points of Dillon, Twir
Bridges, Sheridan and Silver Star. Thi.
besides the extension TO Wallace, Idaho
Dillon and Livingston have been added
70 the let Of citipS Of exchange
me has it's W elegan
buildings in Butte and Helena, and mex
year it will build at Great Falls, anC
possibly at M,ssoula. They will be thu
same style of buildings as those IN
Butte and Helena, fireproof and Of Gu
stone and brick.
The Rocky Mountain Bell Telephone
company controls all the patents an
licenses Of the American Bell Telephon'
company for Montana, Idaho. Titan are
Wyoming. 1t has exchanges in 81 cities
and 4,26l% miles of copper toll lines
connecting with 200 cities and towns il
its four states. inc two connecting line
with the telephone systems Of the Pa
cifc coast; one via Huntington, Ore.
and one via Spokane. making complet
connections from San Diego, Cal. OF
the south. to British Columbia points OF
the north and throughout Montana an
Idaho: and with the Utah connecting
link under process of construction, thi
interior people is placed on direc
speaking terms with all of the Pa
cffc slope. The new line from Bots
to Huntington gives speaking come
ton between Occur d'Alene points an
the capital of the state. and all tn
Northwest.
The new Utah and Idaho line extend
north to Idaho Falls. and I'm anothe
year will be extended to Dillon, com
pleting the link TO Montana. and II pos
sible. west from Pocatello to Bo's'
thereby perfecting the chain for send
ing the "far-sound voice east q
west. north or south. from the crest z
the Rockies TO the coast of the Pacif
ocean, and through all h region
from near the British Columbia line I
Southern Utah, a region nearly as grea
in area as the original 10 colonies.
The cities n towns OF Montan
connected with the system are: Ana
conda- Alta. Argenta. Bald Butte. Bar