About Wahkiakum West
Telephone and Television

Back in the early 1900's telephones were still very new, especially in rural areas. The first phones in our area were called "farmer lines". The phones ran on batteries, as there was no electricity in most houses. The actual telephone lines ran along fences, which sometimes resulted in a cow knocking out a conversation.

Instead of the individual private telephone lines that we have today, the farmers of the area shared a single phone line, called a "party line". Each house was assigned a different ring, made up of various combinations of three longs and shorts. For example, the ring for one house would be two longs and a short, for another house two shorts and a long. "rubbernecking", listening to other people's conversations, was common. One very long continuous ring served as the 911 of the day, signalling help was needed.

Around 1910, a single long distance circuit was added, making it possible for one person at a time to call outside of the local area. But as telephones became more and more popular and people wanted to communicate with the outside world, neighbor-owned farmer lines were no longer sufficient.

Western Wahkiakum County Telephone Company incorporated in 1927, linking together about 200 subscribers from the farmer lines. The first switchboard was housed in Grays River in a small building on the east side of Meserve's Store, with long distance access through Skamokawa.

The 20^th Century is known for rapid technological advances, and the telephone industry is no different from the rest of the world. In 1968, microwave technology was introduced to the Wahkiakum West facilities. In 1989 Wahkiakum West entered the digital age with an upgrade to system-wide digital switching equipment. 1998 was another big year for Wahkiakum West, with the installation of fiber optic cabling, central office switching equipment upgrades, and long distance equal access.

In addition to telephone communications, Wahkiakum West also offers satellite television. As the industries continues to grow and new technologies becomes available, Wahkiakum West will continue to keep in step with telecommunications and satellite television advancements, bringing to rural customers the services needed to connect them to the technology of the next century.