CenturyTel of the Gem State acquired by Century Telephone. Following this acquisition, Century Telephone launched its rebranding as "CenturyTel" and changed the name of the holding company Pacific Telecom to CenturyTel of the Northwest. Gem State Utilities then changed its name to CenturyTel of the Gem State, Inc. CenturyTel of the Gem State CenturyTel of the Gem State, Inc. is a telephone operating company providing local telephone services in Idaho and northern Nevada owned by CenturyLink. The company was established in 1901 as the Gem State Utilities Corporation. The company was acquired by Telephone Utilities in 1966 as the first company TU would acquire to
California State Route 223 highway. It was a part of Legislative Route 140, which ran from Taft to US 99 (locally known as Taft Highway), and from US 99 to US 466. The Taft Highway portion was signed as US 399, but the Bear Mountain Boulevard section was unsigned. It was dropped from the route in 1959, and became Legislative Route 264. In 1964, with the renumbering of California’s state routes, Bear Mountain Boulevard became a signed route as SR 223, and was extended west to I-5. California State Route 223 State Route 223 (SR 223) is a state route in Kern County, California,