The independent-reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1909-1955, 1924-01-10
HARMONIOUS ANNUAL MEETING OF FARM
ERS TELEPHONE CO. At NORR|OGEW0CK
Entire Board Reelected.---C. F. Smith Will Re.
main Manager of Work

were also many other places where
the high water from brooks caused
damage TO our lines.
/ During the fall of 1922 Mr.. Dam
forth started to split lines u. 7. and
A in Skowhegan and set few poles
i from Malbons Mills along the East
/ Ridge Road to the Malbon Farm to
/ connect with our pole line which ran
across from Hilton Hill to the East
1 Ridge Road at this point.
AT our directors meeting in July
1t was voted to finish this work.
/ at Is very difficult to make a COM
parison from year to year of the
amounts paid out for various things
/ because one bookkeeper or manager
will put an item under repairs of
equipment, and the next one will put
1t under maintenance expense or
sometimes general expense, etc. II
the books had been kept according
to the system recommended by the
Interstate Commerce Commission,
then comparison would have been
very easy.
Last May we had the auditor of the
Public Utilities Commission help us
on our books and at his suggestion
we made several changes in them.
+ Due to these changes our state tax
was reduced $11347.
"On this work we used the follow
/ ing material: 3S poles, IA cross
arms including pins, braces, bolts and
screws, 400 insulators 23S brackets,
! Ia miles of iron wire. This mat
erial cost approximately $4,000. This
is the only job where an extra line
man was hired, costing us, including
boy for ground man, SIS. This
does not include pay for regular line
man and myself, amounting to $3.50,
making a total amount for the job of
$4S7 for the job. In splitting these
lines three new lines were added to
the Skowhegan switchboard as fol-
lows: Line 4S with 7 subscribers,
line 40 with subscribers, line so
with subscribers. This gives us
chance to take several more sub
scribers on these new lines. None
of the above material was used in
splitting line 4 because this end of
line IL that ran up North street to
Peregrine Whites and across to the
East Ridge road, was discontinued.
We therefore used this wire for our
new No. so line which runs as far
as Mr. Whites.
ION August 21st, the heavy wind
storm which lasted "a hours caused
over so crosses and broken wires
over our whole system. These re-
quired about one week to repair and
we repaired the trunk lines first and
] II, In, nr1or tbou
reported as far as this was possible.
"In June we changed our Athens
! Central office and switchboard and put
1t in a private house. Previous to
/ this the day board was in store and
the night board in private house.
The old boards were home made az
fairs consisting of telephone with
! extension bells and switches for the
different lines. The switchboard that
we put in came from our New Port
/ land office and was thoroughly over
hauled before 1t was installed 1t
/ Is an 8 line wall type switchboard,
the same as used in Caratunk and
Fairfield. Since this board has been
/ installed our average daily calls have
nearly doubled.
"This fall we changed about one
half mile of our pole line in Moscow
where the line ran through the new
cemetery site, and placed them along
the highway. We used new poles
and used cross-arms instead of
brackets. This change has done
away with a very bad place where
our lines ran up over very steep
| bank and got buried In snow every
winter.
1--WE changed our lines that ran over
the roof of Hotel Cahill in Bingham,
setting two new poles each with two
guys, and used cross-arms. Equip
ment for additional lines was added
/ to the Bingham switchboard, and two
private lines were run into the board.
"In Caratunk we set over 1-3 mile
of our pole line near Crosby Spauld-
ings. and reset IL poles between
Caratunk and The Forks. This was
on account of highway construction.
"In the Canaan switchboard we put
in 10 combined jacks and signals, also
several cords and plugs and made
many additional minor repairs.
an Fairfield Center we put. in some
new cords and plugs. We also re-
set several poles to Fairfield village
and on the line to Norridgewock.
an our Madison office, in the new
Christopher block, we have installed
a new LEIGH ringing machine, and the
woodwork has been vanished and
the iron grating has been bronzed so
that we now have very neat look
ing office. We have also put on a
night operator for emergency calls.
We extended line Is with five new
subscribers, and added five subscrib-
ers to other lines.
1.-THE line from Madison to North
Arson was thoroughly overhauled u.s.
ing 81 new poles, 80 cross-arms, over
200 insulators and other miscellane-
Gus supplies.
1--WE experienced a great deal of
trouble In Arson due to the Great
Northern Paper Company power house
construction. They crossed and
broke our lines at least twenty-five
times from April LIST to the middle of
December. when they completed their
work there. We had to remove our