The La Jara chronicle., 1910-02-18
Telephone a Great Factor
in Development of the West,


Senator Clarke of Wyoming recent
ly made a 1,io0-mile trip over his
state in a wagon. He was away
from the railroads all of the time.
and great deal of the time was
mi es from the nearest telegraph.
But there was never an evening on
the whole journey that he did not
call up his home at Evanston by tel
ephone
Speaking of this personal experienc
with the progress OF the telephone in
new country, due in a large meas
ure to the pioneer work of the tele-
phone companies. the senator said:
1T shows that this western com-
try is growing at an astonishing rate.
Il used to be that the railroad was
the forerunner of civilization. but
now it is the telephone. Every
where in my state telephone lines
run and in most of the branch houses
one can step in and call any part of
the state, as also Utah. The best
there is can always be found in this
I N'to'tIH 'liipLt VI ouio
is 10 convenience We do not have
the moment that 1t comes upon the
| market. The east, of course, is up
todate and its people brag of what
they have. but this wild west where
we I've is always at the front"
TheIe are many other interesting
examples of the Importance of the
| telephone in the west. In the pio-
naer days the greatest drawbacks
settlers IN the new country had TO
fac were the tremendous distances.
First came the railroads to reduce
this handicap, then telegraph lines,
which made possible quick communi-
cation among the more important
certers. and, lately, the network of
telephone lines the senator found so
convenient in his trip around Wyom-
ing.
Because it is actually a means of
instant communication. because every
body Can use 1t and because it
reaches into places inaccessible to
railroad or telegraph lines. the tele-
PiiDlAt VII A'tANAA4S Dt NIthsSoti
NEST important of the three. 1t has
played a part in building up
the naw sections of the country sec
ond to that OF no other agency. 1t
is difficult to imagine what the ranch
sections Of the west would be with
ont their telephone systems to-day.
Tile Eelplessnsss of any farm or
town whuse service is seriously Grip
pied by storm or fire. gives an idea
Of the dependence of the entire coun-
try Ipou its connections by wire.
And this is most especially true in
the vest y group of western cities
whi h includes Uenver. Dallas, Spo-
kane, LosAugles, Portland and Omaha
stands supreme in telephone develop
ment. That Is, more telephones in
proportion to tke popu'ation are found
in these centers than in any of the
big capitals OF the east. In the mat
ter Of farm and ranch telephones the
west is making great strides. The
statement is made Icy the Western
Electric Company, manufacture of
me ipeii AeitpHohtS, Ildl ilOIt
than 100 900 of its rural telephones
were sold last year. a great proper
tion of these went into the west.
Along the Pacific coast and in the
northwest the telephone has been
used with great success to fight the
spread of forest fires. The govern
ment's telephone lines in the national
forests have opened up tracts of land
that had never before seen a settler.
In Utah and Colorado the fruit grow
srs use their telephone service to
ward off the ravages of frost. Its
usefulness to all the western states
has often been demonstrated.