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| Packed and Ready |
Today I'm doing my packing and making sure that the Macbook, my Palm Treo phone and my iPod are set up correctly. Quite a lot of technology for a nostalgic trip to cowboy country.
When I left Montana for the Navy in 1953 my friends the Swansons had a black and white TV and they could receive 1 station, which was located in Billings as I recall. That was about it for technology.
There were radios and telephones of course, but to make a call in Red Lodge the operator came on line and you gave her a the digit phone number or you asked for the person by name. You could also say "Hi, Mildred" if your recognized her voice.
During the day there were usually two operators on duty. They were in a little office on the 2nd floor of the bank across the street from what is now the Pollard Hotel. They sat at a big console with plug holes for each phone and plugged a patch-cord from your phone into the phone line you were calling-- they listened in if they had time and inclination to do so. They've been replaced by a micro-chip and now the CIA listens in; that's progress for you.
There were radios and telephones of course, but to make a call in Red Lodge the operator came on line and you gave her a the digit phone number or you asked for the person by name. You could also say "Hi, Mildred" if your recognized her voice.
During the day there were usually two operators on duty. They were in a little office on the 2nd floor of the bank across the street from what is now the Pollard Hotel. They sat at a big console with plug holes for each phone and plugged a patch-cord from your phone into the phone line you were calling-- they listened in if they had time and inclination to do so. They've been replaced by a micro-chip and now the CIA listens in; that's progress for you.
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| Telephone Switchboard, 1914 |
Howard claimed that he once knew by memory every phone number in his service area which was Red Lodge, Belfry and the nearby rural area, but hat was before I met the Swansons. He had slowed down some when I first met him because a lightning bolt had struck a telephone pole while he was working on the line. The shock shattered the pliers he had in his hand and left him hanging on the pole dazed. He was in shock for a while but he seemed OK when I met him--liked to sleep in front of the TV a lot.
Anyway, I was talking of packing. I think it's done. Now I need to load the Canon photo software onto the Macbook and install a new version of Adobe Photoshop Elements. That will keep me busy for a while.
P.S The telephone switchboard is similar to what I remember. This one is a Western Electric 1914 model. It is in the Roseville Telephone Museum.
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