The Sidney herald., 1959-04-08

When Montana became a state
seventy years ago, telephone ser
vice was fairly well established il
the state.
The telephone had been invent.
ed in 1875 by Alexander Graham
Bell who was assisted by Thoma.
A. Watson in his early expert.
ments. The instrument which T.
sophisticated customers had thu
appearance OF q toy was accepted
and welcomed by openmindec
w~esterners. Thus we find In re-
Prospect that when early models Of
ing citizens of Montana were est.
brought TO Montana, forward look
in gcitizens Of Montana were est
ablishing experimental telephone
lines over telegraph wires and
specially strung wire as early as
1879.
This experimental work was
done in many parts of the state.
In the Fall of 1878 telephone COM
munication was established on an
experimental basis between
Helena and Deer Lodge, Montana.
In the same year a telephone line
was established between Miles
City, and Fort Keough, Montana,
on an experimental "set up" In
1878 a telephone line was con-
structed from Lee Mantel's office
in Deer Lodge to the penitentiary.
Either in the late Fall or early
Winter following the Deer Lodge
installation Senator Clark became
interested in the possibilities of
the telephone and purchased two
telephones and enough wire to
establish a telephone line between
his office and the Dexter Mill.
1t appears that other places in
the state can claim to have had
experimental telephone convers-
ations as early as '79. However,
it is apparent that the first tele-
phone line as well as the first
working telephones in Montana
were in Missoula. Here it seems
that a doctor, of an inventive
frame of mind, probably as a re-
suit of knowledge which he gain
ed from the announcement Of
Bells invention actually con-
structed two working telephone
instruments and had a telephone
fine between a drug store he
owned and his residence in 1875,
the year Bell gave the telephone
to the world.
Substantiation of the Missoula
claim of the first telephone line
in the state is given in a chron-
icled record Of the experiences
of telephone construction work in
Idaho and Montana. MI. WEIGH re-
lates that he went to Montana and
arrived at Bozeman on January 81,
1884. He tells of finding a tele-
phone exchange in Bozeman and
also one in Missoula when he ar
rived there afew weeks later.
Mr.. Welch says in part: Eat
Missoula / found an exchange of
AZ subscribers. / wish to relate
some news of MiSSoula that might
be of some interest. A doctor there
had d drug store and a phone from
the store to his residence, OF his
own make. The man l found was
well versed in the telephone"
From these humble beginnings
of telephone service in Montana
not only were telephones lines
constructed but also exchanged
with a fairly good number of sub
scribers when Montana became a
state.
Butte is credited with having
the first telephone exchange in
the state opened in February 81,
1882 by the Rocky Mountain
Bell Telephone Com
.any. Shortly thereafter the ex-
,har(yes of Helena, Anaconda,
Deer Lodge, Missoula,
Billings, and Miles City were
opened. Long distances lines had
also been strung in several parts
If the state, a line between Helena
and Wicks probably being the very
'irst long distance telephone line
constructed in the state. However, t,
ong distance lines between Butte
md Anaconda, Butte and Helena
md Deer Lodge, Helena and
Marysville, Helena and Missoula {
ria Deer Lodge and Drummond, /,
md several others were in opera :
ion when Montana became a state. =,
The first telephone directory :
published in the state carries a !,
late of February l, 1885 and is !
tiled DIRECTORY number One for ;
he Montana division" Previous to {
he publication of this directory !
here had been a card published l
n the various exchanges showing
he subscribers numbers. 1t is in c
eresting to remember that when t
he Montana exchanges were first v
pened subscribers telephone had e
O numbers but their names were c
iven to the operator when a call Z
yas placed. 1
Boys were employed as opera q
,rs and the boy who attended t,
ne switchboard at night had to +
l.,