Fergus County Democrat. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1904-1919, 1906-04-24
PUT UP PHONE
Line AT NIGHT
Holes DUG, Poles Set And Several
Hundred Yards of Line Struno
Last Sunday Night.
BY lfWISTOWN TELEPHONE co
haSty Action Taken to Secure Rioht
OF Way From The Mutual
Telephone Company.

In order to make sure of securing
the preferable right of way from Sec
ond avenue to the city limits along
Boulevard, the Lewistown Telephone
company last Sunday night did a
rather unusual stroke Of telephone
construction work, digging the holes,
setting the poles and stringing sever
al hundred yards Of telephone wire
between the two suns. 1t is said that
thirty men We're employed throughout
the night and the work accomplished
would certainly indicate that a good
sized force of men worked at a pretty
darkness
In order that the public may under
stand the reasons for this extra work,
the Democrat will give such facts as
It was able to CLEAN from the parties
to the controversy. According to the
franchise granted to the Mutual tere-
phone company, that company cannot
string wire on the same side Of the
street with any other telephone, tele-
graph or electric light wire, previous
ly constructed.
This company recently built tele-
phone line down Dawes street to the
Boulevard and had dug holes for the
extension to the city limits. The Lew
istown Telephone company had ex-
tended their line down Boulevard as
where the line was anchored for sew
eral months. AS it happened the Mu-
tual was preparing to string wire on
the same side of the street but not
parallel as the Lewistown wire had
not been extended along Boulevard A
controversy arose as to which should
have that side of the street.
After some talk, Managers War; of
the LewiStOWn company and Stone of
the Mutual company agreed to SUBJ
nit the matter to City Attorney H. L..
DeKalb for arbitration, both agreeing
to stand by his decision as to the
proper Interpretation of the statutes
on the question. The agreement was
entered into Saturday afternoon. At
torneys DeKalb & Mettler gave theii
decision yesterday morning, but in the
meanwhile, the LewistoWn Telephone
company had settled the matter in
their own favor by stringing their wire
along the disputed thoroughfare.
Manager Stone of the Mutual COM
pany states that his company will
proceed to string wires along another
street in order to get to a number of
customers over on the fiat who are
waiting for phone connection in order
that their customers may not be put
out by any delays incident to litiga-
ton and that the matter of stringing
a wire along Boulevard will be at
tended to later.
The written opinion of DeKalb &
Mettler is to the effect that the Mu-
tual company had a perfect right to
construct their line along Boulevard
on the side in dispute just so long as
there was no other line running along
that side of the street. Iasmuch as
there was no line on that side of the
street, or presumably none, at the
time the opinion was written, it was
held that the Mutual had the right of
opinion is as follows.
1T is plain that the intention of the
city council was not to EXCLUDE
any company from portion of 4
street not occupied by the other COM
pany. but to obviate interference by
induced currents where no lines are
construsted AT THE SAME PLACE
on any street. In other words, it was
the intention of the city council to on
ly prohibit the company operating un-
der the junior franchise from so plac-
ing it's lines as to render difficult THE
WORKING OF A LINE ALREADY
CONSTRUCTED; not to obviate diff
ficulties IN THE EXTENSION OF A
LINE WHICH MIGHT BE CON-
STRUCTED or which the other COM
pany MIGHT INTEND sometime in
the future to construct"