Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1901-11-07
GRAND RAPIDS PLAN At RHINEIANDER.
New $14, 900 Phone Plant TO Begin Business
Inside OF Two Weeks.

| From The Rhinelander New North.
| In the course of a couple of weeks
there will be in operation in this city
one of the very best telephone systems
in the northwest. We refer to
the system of the Rhinelander Mutual
Telephone company. We say it is
one of the very best systems. We
will amend that statement by saying
| that there is not ia better system in
| the northwest. Six months ago
when A. w. Bryant, the young pro-
moter from Grand Rapids, Wis.
arrived in Rhinelander and preached
the subject of new independent
system many of our business men said
to him, 'ImpOSsible! Impossible! 1t
can never be- 1t would appear to
the average person that odds were
against Mr.. Bryant by the fact that
our city had a fairly we'll equipped
system in operation under control of
the Wisconsin Telephone company.
Nothing daunted Mr.. Bryant's faith.
however, and he enlisted his best
energies in the work with firm deter
mination of carrying it to successful
termination. A careful inspection of
the nearly completed system and a
glance at the list of subscribers tells
in an unmiStakable manner that he has
been most successful. A number of
recent visitors to our city who are we'll
posted in the matter Of telephone SER
vice say that they have travelled all
over the country and that during
their travels they have never seen a
| better system than the one being
installed here. In the construction of
the line nothing but the very best
material has been used-the best that
money can buy.
The mutual company will start in
with an exchange of two hundred
phones, including nearly every busi-
ness place in the city. The new
system is what is known as the central
energy system and it is the first
installed by Mr.. Bryant, in fact there
are only two others in the state, one
at Milwaukee and the other at West
Superior, neither of which are as
modern in their equipment as the one
here. The central switch board is
equipped for two hundred single line
phones, but the capacity is three hun
dred and twenty. One of the strongest
merits Of the new switch board in
not necessary for a patron of the line to
l
the taking down of the receiver, in
stead of letting down a drop on the he
switce board, turns on an electric
current and throws light into a very
small globe on the board. These little
lglobeS are directly over and correspond
with the numbers on the switch
board. For night use, there is a bell
attachment. The energy necessary to
carry on the work is supplied from
storage battery, which, according to
the gentleman in charge, will be
charged twice week from the electric
| light plant. A little dynamo will also
be one of the necessary adiuncts to
the plant. The power and fuse boards
are mounted on Tennessee marble.
| Most of the phones have already been
| Installed and as soon As the cOnnec-
tions are made at the central, the
Rhinelander Mutual Telephone COM
pany will be ready for business.
The new system is one of which the
stockholders of the company and
citizens of Rhinelander generally have
reason to be proud. in fact all are
proud of il. While great amount
of credit is due many of our prom-
nent business men who realized that
it was good thing and pushed it
along, a great amount of credit is
also due Mr.. Bryant, the young pro-
moter from Grand Rapids. He is the
gentleman who started the ball
rolling and has kept the thing moving.
The original plan was that Mr.. Bryant
was to superintend the work of
construction, the building of the line
to be by contract, The lowest bid
for the building of the line was SD 0dl
Mr.. Bryant and the directors of the
company Thought this rather high.
The result was that Mr.. Bryant has
put in the entire line himself. includ-