Plumas County, CA History

Transcribed by Sally Kaleta Jul 2009

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Illustrated History of PLUMAS, LASSEN & SIERRA Counties
with CALIFORNIA from 1513 to 1850, Farriss & Smith , 1882, San Francisco.



TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE 
  
  
          In the summer of 1874 an agent of the Western Union Telegraph Company 
visited Plumas with a view of ascertaining what the people would do towards 
constructing a telegraph line from Sierra City, via Jamison City and Quincy, to 
Taylorville and Greenville. A subscription paper was started for the purpose of 
raising money to aid in the work, each subscriber having the amount contributed 
placed to his credit, and he was permitted the free use of the line to the 
extent of his subscription. The subscribers in the American valley and vicinity 
who paid and used their credits were: G. W. Meylert, $200; J. D. Goodwin, $150; 
W. E. Ward, $75; William Schlatter, $25; A. Cohn & Bro., $50; A. Hall, $50; 
Thompson & Kellogg, $100; Thomas Hughes, $50; Richard Jacks, $25; John W. 
Thompson, $50; A. W. Keddie, $25; J. H. Haun, $20; D. M. Bull, $20; J. E. 
Edwards, $100; J. R. Wyatt, $100; F. B. Whiting, $100; I. C. Boring, $75; J. C. 
Chapman, $25; E. T. Hogan, $50; N. K. Wright, $50; T. L. Haggard, $25; Plumas 
Water Co., $100; Sam Lee, $25; C. Lee, $50; E. A. Heath, $50; J. F. Hartwell, 
$25; making, with a number of small amounts, $1,800. In Taylorville: W. G. 
Young, $100; John Hardgrave, $100; Rosenberg Bro. & Co., $50; Bransford & Smith, 
$100; total, $350. In Greenville: J. H. Whitlock, $250; C. H. Lawrence, $250; J. 
S. Hall, $100; J. H. Maxwell, $100; W. B. Lathrop, $50; A. D. McIntyre, $25; 
Oliver Drake, $50; Portable Saw Mill Co., $20; G. H. McPherson, $33.33; N. B. 
Forgay, $25; H. C. Bidwell, $150; J. A. Hickerson, $2.50; total, $1,055.83. Mr. 
Lamb, the superintendent of construction, at once commenced the work of putting 
up the line. It was completed to Quincy, November 16, 1874, and to men and 
community generally, and has paid fairly to the company as a business venture. 
Some inconvenience sometime arises in winter from the difficulty experienced in 
keeping the line up and in working order through the mountains. At Sierra City 
the line connects with the general system of the company. 
          In the spring of 1877, J. H. Maxwell of Susanville, W. G. Young of 
Taylorville, and F. B. Whiting of Quincy, inaugurated a movement to connect 
Susanville with this line by constructing an independent line from that place to 
Taylorville, a distance of thirty-three miles. A subscription paper was started, 
and in a short time enough money was secured to build the line, which cost about 
$2,100. The first message was sent on the twenty-fourth of June, 1877. 
         During the winter of 1877-78, the telephone fever prostrated the embryo 
scientists of Quincy. Led by Judge Cheney, they began and completed the work of 
constructing a line, consisting of a tow string, from the court-house to Clough 
& Kellogg's office. Messages were bawled over this string with an energy that 
bid fair to put an end to all lung troubles in the county; and after mixing 
people all up, and convincing the man at either end of the string that some 
confirmed idiot or Choctaw Indian must be at the other end, the line was 
abandoned. After that, when any one had anything to say, he walked over and said 
it, and was sure he was understood. 
         The managers of the Monte Christo mine are talking of running a 
telephone line from Quincy to their office at Spanish peak.