The Powder River County examiner and the Broadus independent. [volume] (Broadus, Mont.) 1919-1935, 1921-02-04

Tradition; Virginia City had Tele-
graph in 1899.
The first telegraph line that licked
messages from the outside into Mon
tana was completed from the Union
Pacific at Corinne, Utah, to Virginia
City, Madison county, November 2,
1866. and the stringing Of the wire
into the gold camp and the setting up
of the instruments there were said
to have been accompanied by one of
the most memorable celebrations in
the history of the camp. Virginia
City had by that time acquired a
population of some 10000, and while
flour, potatoes and fresh meat were
not always either cheap or plentiful,
there was never lacking sufficient
supply of whisky. wines and other
liquid refreshments, and the day the
telegraph there received its first mes
sage from Salt Lake most of the
town Joined in the fun. A band
blared up and down the streets and
serenaded the various saloons, dance
halls and gambling houses. When
ever the musicians appeared some
miner would throw his poke Of gold
dust on the bar and yell to the bar
tenders to ''set 'em up for the house."
The telegraph soon became q COM
monplace affair at Virginia City, but
it was not till October II, 1857, that
the line was built through to Helena.
The first dispatch there announced
that Thurman had been elected gov
~ 01,i0 v,hinh tut D. N,,
proved to be incorrect. However, the
telegraph had become a reality and
Montana no longer felt 80 remote
and isolated. having come into conf
munication with the extremes of the
Atlantic and Pacific shores.
The telephone did not make its APP
pearance in Montana till the early
sos, the first lines constructed being
between Helena and Deer Lodge and
Butte and Deer Lodge. These lines
were strung by private capital, the
one from Butte to Deer Lodge being
owned by P. A. Largey of Butte.
About 1883 the Bell Telephone COM
pany bought both lines and CONSOLE
dated them, making through line
from Butte to Helena, via Deer
Lodge.
This line was so bad in those days
that it is said to have been almost
useless to white persons, but It SEEM
ed especially we'll adapted to the
transmission of the Chinese Ian
guage. The Chinese of Butte and
Helena declared they had no trouble
in making themselves understood
over the line, and their talk gave al
most the only source Of revepk9 thai
the company had until the liile had
been overhauled and put In better
shape. Some amusing experiences
used to be related concerning the
education Of the yellow mon to the
use Of the telephone. It was impos-
sible, Of course, to make them UNDER
stand the principle Of sound trans.
mission over q wire. The Chinese in
sisted that It was devil machine"
and all that could be done was to
convince them that no harm would
come to the person who talked over
the line. After q time they became
used to long distance converting. and
many Of them used to spend all their
money in talking to friends in Butte
and Deer Lodge from the Helena end.
The first telephone exchange in
the Rocky Mountains was in Salt
Lake, and was established some forty
years ago. There were less than
100 subscribers, who were served
through an anticipated device OF 100
lines capacity. The Rocky Mountain
Bell-now the Mountain States Tele-
phone and Telegraph company-was
organized in 1888. and being affiliat-
ed with the American Bell company.
was able to acquire the Ogden and
Park City exchanges. together with
some isolated long distance lines in
Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.
These, according to the Mountain
States Monitor, published by the COM
pany at Denver. formed the nucleus
for the development of great sys-
tenn of telephone communication
reaching to every point of any i'm
portance in the entire territory.
The early experiences of the tele-
phone companies were varied, and
difficulties and obstacles almost In.
surmountable had to be overcome in
building lines through territory
where civilization was yet unknown
For instance the Indians. who did
not realize what the lines meant, new
ertheless knew that they were works
of the hated white men and they
caused much annoyance and expense
by cutting poles and shooting up the
wires and insulat0rs. The red men
were far from stupid. however, as q
construction foreman discovered. Tt
secure right-of-way across a reser'
walton was slow process then
usually requiring about two years
In one place it became necessary fol
a company to build line across {
reservation along railway. and al
the railroads contract did not per
nit the placing OF poles on the right