Soapweed's Ranch
Ramblings |
It is ironic how we've come full circle from telephone party lines, to a much-improved
private-line where things said can be confidential, and now back to the party-line
syndrome on this "bull session." Isn't progress great?
Growing up in the 'fifties and early 'sixties, our local phone system consisted
of a one-wire above ground sort of a deal. An older couple lived in town and
ran the "central" office. Our phone was of the big wooden-box hang-on-the-wall
vintage. Dad stood over six feet tall, so had the speaker "nozzel" of the phone
in the up position. Mom, who was only 5'2", always had a little step-stool beneath
the phone and she had to pull the nozzel into it's down position to talk. When
a person wanted to call out, you made one long ring and the operator would say "Number,
please." After you made your request, the operator would hook up the appropriate
wires to allow the call go through to another party. As there were four other
ranches on our party line, not counting tenant houses, we had to listen for the
appropriate number of rings to know if it was for us. Our number was 12F20. The
20 on the back meant that two long rings was our signal. One of our neighbors
had 12F21 which signified that their ring was two "longs" and a "short." Another
neighbor's number was 12F4, and their ring was four "shorts." It was pretty complicated
technology for the day.
There were several other multi-party ranch country lines in the system also.
If a call was made to someone on one of those lines, there could be a possibility
of nearly twenty "parties" between the two lines.
It didn't really matter whose rings came over the line, because about everybody "rubbered" or
listened in anyway. If the operator wanted to make a community announcement,
a general ring of six shorts was given. This usually was of an emergency situation,
such as a prairie fire, or in one instance back in 1952, of a murderer on the
loose. Back to the "rubbering," absolutely nothing was confidential. Sometimes
there would be so many people listening in that there would not be enough power
for the actual intended conversationalists to hear each other. Then some good
samaritan half-way between would offer to "repeat" so the needed message could
be conveyed. If all the wrong people would have just "hung up" there would have
been plenty of power anyway. Keep in mind that there were no radios, televisions,
computers, or other electronic diversions in those days, and the closest town
was half a day away over nearly impassable sandy trail roads.
Long-distance calls were few and far between, and the price was very expensive
if and when it was done. It took a lot of time to place a long-distance call,
as many local operators in other towns all had to make manual connections. One
feature was a "person-to-person" call. If a long-distance call was initiated,
and you could not get the person you desired to speak to on the other end, you
did not have to pay for the call. This allowed for abuses of the system, with
secret "codes" worked out.
Old habits die hard. To this day, I never pick up a phone without first checking
to see if someone else is talking, and to see if there is a dial-tone. One thing
about it, the old party lines fulfilled a vital transition in the opening of
our world as we know it today
Copyright © 2005 Steve
Moreland
All Rights Reserved