Progress . . .
SITKA TELEPHONE COMPANY
CONVERTS TO DIAL SYSTEM
Quarter Million Dollar Plant
Began Operation March 21st
To most people a ( O. D.
means a package one has to
pay lor before the Post Of
bet* will release same but
to tilt* Sitka Telephone Com
pany, ( O. I). meant Cut
Over Day and another mile
stone in the progress of the
telephone services made to
the people ol the Sitka— Mt.
Edgecombe area.
March 23st was "(ait Over
Day” and at 11:30 V. M. of
that date Col. ('arl H. Hatch,
commanding officer ACS,
made tht* first telephone call
on the new Sitka dial system
to Cov. Mike Stepovitcli in
|nn .ni Minutes later pro
minent local citizens polled
Hie strips and the new quar
ter million dollar dial system
went into operation for the
in.! time and without a
hitch.
Gone forever were the
days of intimate ehats with
the friendly operator »iit‘
forever the lazy way of pick
ing up tlie phone and saying
“Donna get me so and so
or Catherine, do you know
where Viable is would you
ring her, I’ll he dow n at Cold
Storage, have her eall me
there! The impersonal dial
tone became lord and master
and demanded careful and
uniform treatment from all!
Pro p’ess swt ups all before it
and the pangs of regret over
the loss of friendly familiar
voices, retreats to the limbo
of tile past. Sitka telephones
have grown up! Kven the in
sta'uments themeselves, as
found in many homes, don't
look like the familiar old
squat black cradle phone set
of yesterday now they look
like some modernistic vase
with impressionistic over
tones-, fresh from the mu
seum of modern art. Design
ed in Sweden, their colors
match the decor and there is
little about them to indicate
their telephonic purpose,
ft veil the standard type
phone now comes in a riot
o£ colors far crv from the
da\s when the voters of the
city of Sitka granted Martha
and Peter Kostrometinofi a
franchise for the* operation of
a telephone system way hack
in 1937.
At that time there were no
telephones jn Sitka. Com
munication was maintained,
as one wag put it at the cut
over ceremonies, simply by
opening the window and yel
ling across town! Matter ol
tact mans' of the local bus
inesses and residents were
not a little adverse to be
being bothered with such
modern state-side contriv
ances.
Construction ot 11 it* old
telephone building was un
dertaken in 1937 and the
eahle plant and switchboard
were installed in the fall ot
1938. The first telephones
rang on Jan. 25, 1939. At
that time the Sitka Tele
phone exchange was hailed
as one of the newest and
1 test type on the Pacific coast
and was tin* second one of
the then new type to In* in
stalled in the western world,
the first one having been put
in (neration in Jamaica.
The first manager ol the
company was Don Hardy,
and his wife Betty was the
first operator. The number
of subscribers, as listed in
the first directory totaled 95
names of these pioneer tele
phone users over 30 have
maintained service and the
same numbers through the
years until the cutover.
Each year saw more names
added to the directory and
with the coining of World
War 11, trunk lines were con
netted to the naval station at
Mt. Edgeeumbe. Construc
tion workers poured into the
area and naval personel
came in large numbers. This
made neeessery the addition
of another position to the
switchboard and more cable
pairs were sent out in an
ever widening radius. The*
war years were hectic and
operators often clocked as
manv as 600 calls an hour.
With the Public Health
Service and the Bureau of
Indian Affairs locating at Mt.
Edgecombe, direct trunk
lines were established be
tween the Island and the
Sitka exchange.
Long distance service from
Sitka to other Alaskan cities,
the If. S. and the world in
general were first made
available to Sitka citizens in
1946 through the Alaska Com
munications System. For
man)' years Sitka was served
by three long distance cir
cuits which they shared with
all the other cities in South
eastern Alaska ...a situation
making for great difficulties.
Finally, two years ago, Sitka
was assigned one long dis
tance circuit for its exclusive
use and in April of this year
two aditional circuits were
given the area. Possibly more
will be added as the need
arises.
Martha and John Gushing
began thinking again about
expanded telephone service
when it became apparent
that the long dreamed of and
hoped for pulp mill was to
become a reality. Plans lor
the expansion and complete
rebuilding of the telephone
company were quickly put
into the engineering stage.
Ill 1952 the preliminary work
started with plans for a mo
dern type dial system. In
1955 the cable plant, pole
lines and a new building
wen* started through the en
gineering stage. On Feb. 22
1957 contracts were signed
with the Stromberg Carlson
company for the newest,
most ad vanced equipmen t
available and the cut oxer
date was set.
All the behind the scenes
Fart 'of the crowd of prominent Sitka citizens and distinguished visitors who attend
ed the “C'ut Over” ceremonies March 21st. (photo-Eugene Johnson)
0)1. Carl Hatch, commanding officer ACS prepares to make the first phone call
Ivor the new Sitka dial system to Governor Mike Stepovitch in Juneau.
(photo-Eugene Johnson)
work was accompli -.lied in
record tinu md as we said
“Cut Over Day proceeded
without a hitch! Now wo can
relax to happy dialing. Much
credit goes to the ler-sight
ediiess ol the Cushings and
perhaps, to the fact that
Alaskans (and Hawaiians)
rate as being the, two most
talkatix e groups of people
on the face of the earth!
O 0 0- O
During the first day of op
eration of the new telephone
dial system 10.418 calls went
through the exchange, At the
present time oxer 5,000 calls
are handled dailx.
I Fie Tackle Simp
For
Harncll rods
Catharine Stanley, telephone company operator, takes
tlie last call at the old switchboard just prior to the pull
ing of the strips at the “Cut Over”.
Subscribe to the BARANOF BANNER $4.50 per year
View of the new telephone building on Cathedral Way which houses the ultra mod
ern office of flu1 company and the new dial system equipment.