A History of Lincoln County Telephone System, Inc.
The history of the American West is dominated by the stories of brave settlers, the American Indian, and rugged individuals who risked everything to Pursue the promise of gold and silver riches hidden in the streams of California and the and mountains of Nevada. The biographers of fearless, and sometimes ruthless adventurers have captured the historians imagination at every turn. But there are also great, if less glamorous, stories that are less often told. They are the life stories of Americans who built our west, who made it work, and made it prosper. They are the great stories of dam builders, railroad workers, engineers, farmers, ranchers— and good telephone men, like my grandfather, John Ward Christian and my dad, John Ward Christian Jr.

The Early Years
By the time grandfather and his family moved to Pioche, Nevada, from Beaver, Utah, forty years had passed since the forty-niners had rushed to the California gold fields. A significant silver strike had grown small mining camps like Pioche and neighboring communities grow from small prospectors camps into mining boom towns. In the 1890s, life in Lincoln County was dominated by mining, farming, and ranching- a hard life by any measure. Without the amenities that we take fro granted today, it took hearty individuals just to survive from day to day. By the time grandfather arrived, the communities of Panaca, Caliente, and Pioche were established towns. Panaca was a farming community, Caliente was established along the main rail line, and Pioche served as home for the miners who extracted the precious ores from the many booming mines. Panaca had been settled by the Mormons and was a rather peaceful agricultural community. Pioche was populated almost exclusively by miners and was well known as one of the roughest small towns in the state of Nevada, if not the entire West.

By 1900, the railroad came to Caliente, connecting Lincoln County with the outside world. This exchange did not alter the quality of life in Lincoln County much. The folks here in Lincoln County were accustomed to hard mine work and scratching out a subsistence living from the truck farms and cattle ranches that dotted the landscape. This hard life shaped my grandfather. I knew him as an amazing and capable man who could accomplish just about anything through his hard work and determination. Though the hard realities shaped him, he had a soft side too. He was devoted to our family and was absolutely dedicated to the small communities of Lincoln County- especially Pioche.

In the Old West, it was common for the town newsstand, which frequently contained the local pharmacy and soda fountain in the back, to be an informal community information exchange. People gathered to discuss the news of the day, have a soda, and generally chew the fat. In the history of local telephony, you will find that it was quite common for a retail establishment such as the local pharmacy, to also host the local telegraph and telephone switching stations. This was the case with my grandfather’s store.

My grandfather took over the phone line operations when he purchased the drug store in 1919. The Utah, Nevada, & Idaho Telephone Company owned the local telephone lines which they, in turn, leased to my grandfather. He already had quite a history by then. My grandfather, John Ward Christian Sr., was born on February 24, 1894, in Beaver, Utah. His father (My great grandfather), became interested in the mining opportunities in Nevada and relocated to Pioche in 1900. He put together a partnership and acquired the lease on the Bristol Mine which turned out to be a wise investment. The profits from the mining operations allowed my great grandfather to acquire the major interest in the Hodges-Cook Mercantile store in Pioche.

Grandfather started his education by spending eight years in the Pioche Elementary School, not because he was a slow learner, but because there was no high school in the area at that time! He went on to school in Salt Lake City to learn embalming and was qualified as an undertaker on April 10, 1912, at the age of eighteen. It is known that, on occasion, he assisted the local mortician, John Deck. But he didn’t stay in the undertaking profession for very long.

For awhile, he went back to work in his fathers mercantile store until he purchased a cattle ranch below Mt. Wilson. History gets just a little murky here because my grandfather was fairly private about such things, but sometime during his early ranching days he began courting- and fell in love with- an acquaintance from his school days, a beautiful and sparkling young lady named Louise Franks. On July 31, 1917, they were married in Caliente. Grandfather took his new bride home to the ranch to settle into a life of ranching and raising kids. This, however, was not meant to be. Just a couple of months after their wedding day, John Ward Christian mustered into the United States Army to join the forces fighting in the European theater. He fought at Boleau Woods, Chelbeau, Thiony, Ypres and the Argonne Forest. At Argonne, he was the victim of a poisonous gas attack, the effects of which helped to harden his arteries- a factor that contributed directly to his demise in later years.

Upon his honorable discharge from the Army on August 6, 1919, he returned to Pioche and worked as an assistant in the Pioche post office. When Al Carmen resigned as postmaster, grandfather won the appointment to be his successor. Appointed by President Woodrow Wilson, he served under subsequent Presidents Coolidge, Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt.

Into The Telephone Business
There was phone service in Lincoln County before my grandfather leased the local phone lines. As early as 1902, a long distance line had been completed connecting Panaca, Delamar, and Pioche. Delamar was a gold mining camp of 500 working men and their families back then, but today it is one of Nevada’s famous ‘ghost towns’. Only the outlines of the old town remain today. By February 1908, a line was completed bringing service to the Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad depot, one mile north of Pioche.

The branch railroad line was built from Caliente to Pioche in 1907. Ore was hauled by the Pioche Pacific Railroad Company to the depot. The ore was brought up from the fourteen hundred foot level of the Number One Mine, loaded into ore bins, then dropped into small railroad cars pulled by a shay engine. This ore was taken by the LA&SL Railroad to Utah smelters. Prior to the branch railroad line from Caliente to Pioche, ore from the Pioche and surrounding mines was hauled by team to Modena, Utah, loaded on the main line of the LA&SL Railroad, and transported to Utah smelters. Before 1913, ore was hauled by team from Bristol Mine to the Jackrabbit terminal of the Pioche Pacific Railroad Company. A narrow gauge railroad track connected Pioche with the Jackrabbit terminal.

By February, 1908, the telephone lines also connected Pioche with the offices of the surrounding mines, including; Nevada Utah Consolidated and Pioche Pacific Railroad Company; Ohio Kentucky Mining Company; Prince Consolidated Mine; Boston Pioche and Pioche Nevada Mining Company. The Nevada Utah Consolidated constructed a telephone line to Royal City, more commonly known as ‘Jackrabbit‘.

The First Local Switch Is Installed
By June, 1908, a magneto switchboard was installed in the Carman Building at 25 Main Street, Pioche, which is the present location of the Lincoln County Telephone System, Inc. It is arguable that this event- the installation of a magneto switchboard- marks the year when telephone service officially arrived. This magneto switchboard was donated to the Lincoln County Library and Historical Museum, where it is still on display.

In January, 1909, the Utah, Nevada, and Idaho Telephone Company built a line from Pioche to Caliente. Caliente is located on the main line of the Union Pacific Railroad Company and is the only incorporated city in Lincoln County.

A line was extended from Delamar to Alamo in 1914. Today, Alamo has a dial exchange which serves the Pahranaget Valley, often referred to as the ‘garden spot’ of Lincoln County. Farming and stock-raising are the principal occupations there.

In 1922, Mr. Raufler sold his interest to my grandfather. At this time, telephone service was offered from 7 am until 9 pm. To accommodate the service requirements, he hired Dan and Otto Amsden, who continued to work with the Lincoln County Telephone System for many years. The Amsden brothers were an invaluable asset to the company during a time when resources were scarce. The bachelor brothers had rooms downtown, in an apartment building across from the old theater and were expected to be on call to deal with problems at all times. Whenever my grandfather asked them to go out and fix a line, regardless of the conditions outside, they went without question or complaint. It is noteworthy that the Amsden brothers were early environmentalists- decades ahead of their time. My aunt, Joanne Smith, recalls hearing a story about the Amsden brothers, told to her by my father:

“ ...Soon after John and Louise Christian moved back to Pioche, John went out on a repair call with Dan Amsden. It was down by the housing project and it was necessary for Dan to climb the telephone pole to make the repair. There was a bird nest at the top of the pole. Dan insisted that they not disturb the nest, but instead, make their repairs without disturbing it in any way.”

The Amsden brothers were two outstanding employees among the many good people who have worked with us here at the Lincoln County Telephone System over the years. Considering everything required from us as a service provider, we could not hope to stay in this business without delivering a highly reliable, high quality line of services. Doing an 80% job in our business will guarantee an angry crowd gathered at the door in no time. So, to do the job right- which means keeping almost everyone happy- we have to rely upon very good help. We have always been blessed with a good, hard working, loyal, customer oriented staff. From operators to accountants, line crew to engineering, we have employed high quality people over the years. My dad taught me (and he must have learned this from his father) that people don’t work for you, they work with you. That wisdom and example have helped us maintain a ‘family atmosphere’ which, along with our founders photograph hanging on the wall, will remain always.

About the same time that the Amsden brothers joined us, a switchboard was installed in the living room of my grandparents home so that emergency calls could be placed around the clock. The switchboard had a little bed next to it and the responsibility of ‘manning’ that board usually went to a great woman- my grandmother, Mrs. Louise F. Christian. As the company grew, the need for additional switchboard operators grew as well. In 1938, an additional switchboard was installed on Spring Street in Caliente at the residence of the late Flora Mitchell. From the early days of the company, we employed operators working the switchboard. Back then, operators were the best people to know in any small town. They routed all the calls manually and were generally a clearing house for community information. Like everyone who worked here, they served tirelessly and served well until 1991 when the operators’ service was transferred to AT&T and Nevada Bell. This ended a long legacy of dedicated service to the company and the citizens of Lincoln County.

Our Official LCTS Birth Date: Modernization Begins
In 1926, my grandfather signed a ten-year lease on the telephone system that he was managing from the Utah, Nevada & Idaho Telephone Company (UN&I Company). The lease contained an option to buy. When the Utah, Nevada & Idaho Telephone Company was purchased by the Bell Telephone Company of Nevada, Grandfather exercised his option and purchased the holdings of former UN&I Company in Lincoln County. Though Grandfather had been in the telephone business for nearly a decade, this was the official beginning of the Lincoln County Telephone System as we know it today.

In 1940, the Bell Company of Nevada & Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph built a single telephone line into Caliente from Modena, Utah. This line was established by utilizing the Union Pacific Railroad poles along their route. At the same time, Grandfather extended lines from Pioche to Panaca and from Panaca to Caliente, giving residents their first direct long-distance line. The first call outside of Lincoln County was between Mr. Ed. W. Snyder, Vice President and General Manager of the Combined Metals Reduction Company, Pioche, and Justice William E. Orr of the Nevada State Supreme Court in Carson City, Nevada.

In 1950, Grandfather applied for- and was granted- the first Rural Electrification Administration (REA) loan in the state of Nevada. The REA loan was critical, allowing the Lincoln County Telephone System to improve its’ system by converting from station to dial service. In terms of making a real leap forward, this was perhaps the most important change in the history of our company. On December 3, 1951, the loan was approved and, at the same time, the Lincoln County Telephone System was incorporated.

With the capital from the REA loans, dial exchanges were planned for Alamo, Caliente, Panaca and Pioche. Pioche, being the county seat, was the toll center for the system. The latest Stromberg XY central office switching system was ordered and installed in all four exchanges. With a ‘click and a bang’, the Lincoln County Telephone System was modernized. New lines had to be installed from Pioche to Panaca, Caliente, Alamo, Bristol Mine, Eagle Valley and Rose Valley. In addition, during the late sixties, four private lines were installed to serve the peripheral site of the Federal Aviation Agency on Highland Mountain, seven miles west of Pioche. At the same time, a Vortac installation was installed twenty five miles north of Pioche and was served by a radio channel. By the late 1970s, the Highland installation was moved to Mt. Wilson and both sites were served by microwave.

Cut Over To Dialtone
Important as it was to our service offering, the cut over to dial tone service was a large and complex project for such a small company. It took a large amount of additional time and manpower to complete. To head up this complex project, my father, John Ward Christian Jr., joined the company. It seems to me that Dad was the proverbial ‘chip off the old block’. I didn’t get the opportunity to spend much time with my grandfather as an adult, but it is clear that Dad had my grandfather’s unmistakable spirit, knack for all things mechanical and, most important, his resiliency and fT hough he was well-known for his devotion to all things related to Lincoln County, my grandfather always made his family a priority. He willingly sacrificed his own opportunity to go to college to start the company, but he was determined to make it possible for his son and grandsons to go. So my father started his college education at UCLA and studied for a year and a half before joining the Navy to serve during World War II. When Dad came back, my grandfather saw to it that he would finish his advanced education. Upon his return home from the war, he went straight to the University of California at Berkeley. After graduation, Dad worked for a short time for Travelers Insurance in San Francisco before taking a job with with Pacific Telephone & Insurance to get the experience needed to manage our cut over to dial tone.

On August 20, 1954, the Lincoln County Telephone System was cut over to dial. A proclamation was issued by the Board of County Commissioners on that date proclaiming the day as Lincoln County Conversion Day. In the history of of the Lincoln County Telephone System this was an important day indeed!

In 1958, the old long-distance line that was strung along the Union Pacific Railroad route was removed and replaced by a new line. The new line was installed between Panaca and the Nevada-Utah border, a distance of twenty three miles, where the connection was made with the Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph Company. This line provided a better, more reliable long-distance connection.

1960 saw a steady stream of outside plant improvements and the placement of much needed infrastructure at the Lincoln County Telephone System. As my father saw that more people were moving into our communities, he recommitted the company to improving our plant and offering our customers better service. In 1966, a new toll line was placed to the northern county border. That line connected us with Nevada Bell and, by the late 1970s, it became our only connection to the outside world.

A New Office on Main Street
Perhaps the most important change of the 1960s began in 1966 as my grandfather and father started planning a new central office to house the equipment of the Pioche exchange; the Direct Distance Dialing equipment, the switchboards, and a new commercial office. Building a modern and efficient central office had been a dream that they both shared for a very long time. Typical of my grandfather, he made sure that the newspaper reporter who came to write a history of the company for the grand opening event stressed that it was the good people of Lincoln County who made this new facility possible.

At the time that our new central office was getting completed, the Lincoln County Telephone System adopted a new logo, which we still use today. It features a silhouette of a miner and his mule, flanked by our company name set in ‘Playbill’, a popular typeface associated with the old west. That logo speaks to the heritage of our county and even the family history that made the Lincoln County Telephone System possible. I still think the capable and determined minor is perhaps the most appropriate representative of the spirit required for success in this business.

A Passing of the Torch
Unfortunately, Grandfather never got to see the new building completed. He passed away on October 12, 1967, just eight and a half months before the building was open for business. It is perhaps fitting that we lost the founder of our company as he was attending a United States Independent Telephone Association National Convention in Las Vegas. He was seventy-two years old. My grandfather was dedicated to the progress of the telephone industry and to providing service for the people of Lincoln County, right up to the moment we lost him. As a proud member of the Pioneer Telephone Association, a photograph of John Ward Christian Sr. and my grandmother, Louise F. Christian, smiles down on all who enter our office.

The blow of losing my grandfather was great, but it was eased by the fact that my father had worked at his side for well over a decade. Grandfather had been a good and thorough teacher, insisting that my father learn every aspect of the business first and from the ground up. I still believe that this is the only way to gain a meaningful appreciation of how to make everything- and everyone- work together as a unit to deliver the best service possible to our customers.

Growth Spurs Plant Improvements
By 1960, the Lincoln County Telephone System had grown to 720 lines- up from a total of 164 lines in 1943 and just 19 lines in 1926! The growth that we experienced in the 1950s and 1960s came despite the fact that the economy of Lincoln County was about as low as it had ever been. By 1960, the mining that had contributed so much to the growth of our county had pretty well played out. We were all faced with the dilemma of redefining our direction as a community. I am proud to say that That and Grandfather held onto a firm belief in the future of Lincoln County. It was a time when the Lincoln County Telephone System really made significant strides towards modernizing service to all of our customers.

As the 1960s saw growth in our Lincoln County communities, rapid technological changes were also being made within our industry that have continued through to today. After completing the new toll line for the county to tie into the Nevada Bell system, we began a vigorous effort to upgrade our switching systems. Dad had my grandfather’s sense of adaptability and this never ceased to amaze my brother Paul and me. Dad had gone to Stromberg- Carlson school to get advanced training back in the early days of our conversion to electromechanical switching. He knew it cold and was very comfortable with the technology. When dial switching came along in the late 1970s, dad had no problem letting go of the ‘old way’ that he knew so well. I am still deeply impressed by that part of his character.

The early 1970s saw us continuing to develop and replace our outside plant. In 1972, the Lake Valley exchange was established to serve the alfalfa farmers. Lake Valley was our first experience with the installation of buried cable. During 1976, we built a 2ghz analog intra-county microwave system and link to Nevada Bell, improving the quality and capacity of toll service. From 1978 to 1981, we made the bulk of our outside plant improvements by replacing old air core cable with buried cable. We also buried cable from Pioche to Caliente and Panaca. In 1979, the Sand Springs exchange was developed. Prior to that time we had established toll station service to the Tempiute Mine. Now exchange service covered the mine and the town of Sand Springs, which is also known locally as Rachel. Union Carbide had resumed tungsten mining operations in 1976 at Tempiute and this provided the impetus to establish service in this area of Lincoln County.

During 1979, we installed our first digital switch in Alamo. This would begin a long process of swapping our old switching equipment with digital switches. By 1981, a new digital switch was installed in the Pioche exchange. Caliente was converted to digital in 1983. Finally, in 1987, Lake Valley, Sand Springs and Panaca were served by digital switches. The upgrade to digital switching was now complete and the last remains of the reliable Stromberg XY switching equipment that Grandfather was so proud of were finally gone forever. Also in 1987, the last of our open wire was finally replaced by an analog microwave system, thus improving service reliability and reducing our outside plant maintenance requirements. This change occurred in the Lake Valley exchange.

In 1983, the Lincoln County Telephone System was granted the very last 2% REA loan approved in the nation. A portion of that loan was used to purchase fiber-optic cable. Our first fiber installation was between Panaca and Alamo. The construction took place in 1990. We also used the REA loan funds to replace our aging plant, and to continue upgrading our digital switches. The microwave system to Lake Valley and Sand Springs was also converted to digital equipment with the funds made available from our final REA loan.

Divestiture Changes the Landscape of Telephony
Of course, divestiture in 1984 changed everything for everyone involved in telephony. Divestiture turned our world upside down. Everything seemed uncertain for the Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs) so certainly little Lincoln County Telephone System had to feel pretty vulnerable too. Until 1972, we had been operating on the ‘cent per message’ system which gave us a predictable, but inadequate operating income. In 1972, we became a true ‘cost’ company, utilizing cost-based studies to project our revenue requirements. This gave us a much needed economic shot in the arm which we, in turn, literally plowed back into plant improvements. Would divestiture mean the end to a predictable rate of return that had allowed us to make so many important improvements? If things didn’t break just right, it looked like we would be facing some serious rate increases for our high cost customers just to stay in business. Rates prior to divestiture were $4.75 for a one-party residence. By the end of 1987, they had risen to $11.70. The fear of the unknown- deregulation- caused us all to lose sleep in 1984. I suppose that couldn't’t have been an uncommon occurrence in the telephone business during that year. During these uncertain times, the family got together and made a joint decision to diversify our business operations. To accomplish this we created a holding company called Lincoln Communications Incorporated as well as a non-regulated company called Christian Enterprises.

My father and my mother, along with two of their grandchildren, were taken from us on November 22, 1986, in a tragic automobile accident near their home in Pioche. I feel that the words of Delores Donnelly, the Executive Director of the Western Rural Telephone Association, sum up our feelings about what Dad meant to his family, his community, and to our industry:

“To say that John was a leader is hardly an adequate statement. Most of us knew him to be the man that never said no. Ask him for a favor and John was always agreeable to extend his hand to help. He has served on the WRTA Board of Directors since 1978 and was Vice President and President during that time. At the time of his passing he was serving as Bishop of his church, in the American Legion, the Pioche Volunteer Fire Department and the Chamber of Commerce. In addition, John and Mary Louise were working on a restoration project for the town of Pioche and also a city park project. They left us just as we knew them- together. They were our dear friends and we will miss them...”

While we tend to focus upon our founders and past presidents as we write this history, we would be negligent if we did not spend a few thoughtful moments describing my mother’s contribution to the story. My mother, Mary Louise Christian, was a solid, supportive influence during my father’s entire adult life. You rarely ever saw Dad without Mom at his side, unless she was attending to one of us kids. My mother and father had a true partnership in their marriage. It was the kind of unquestioning support and sense of true partnership that you just don’t often see in married couples these days. Judging from what I witnessed as their son, I can’t help but believe that they took their wedding vows seriously.

Mom was a real ‘doer’, just like Dad. She was well known for her contribution to the telephone company. Over the years, she was responsible for payroll, accounts payable, and billing. In her spare time she was an ad hoc advisor to Dad. Even through she never had a fancy title, her enthusiasm to help others never waned.

Like Dad, Mom loved the community of Pioche, Lincoln County, and the heritage of our southwest area. Both mom and Dad had a real affection for ‘show biz’ and they combined their interest with stories about the many notorious characters who played a part in our local history. The result is our popular local Heritage Plays which have been staged in Pioche for several years now. Mom also played an important role in the Uptown Revitalization Project which secured grants to restore and beautify the old Pioche storefronts. She was also a driving force in the Pioche Heritage Park project which turned a patch of neglected land into a tribute to our mining heritage.

The Third Generation Steps Up
By the time Dad died, my brother Paul and I were his ‘right and left hands’ as far as our operations went. Dad had taught us well, just as he was taught by his father: Start at the bottom and learn everything as you work your way up. I moved inside to run the administrative part of the business and Paul took over the outside pant and central office duties. I had graduated from the University of Nevada at Las Vegas in 1971, and served for four years in the Navy. Three of my years in the Navy were spent in Stockton, California, which allowed me to work with Leland Dowd, getting some invaluable accounting and business management experience. By 1976, I had returned home with my family where I began working with my father.

Even though Paul and I have different responsibilities in terms of how the day-to-day operations go, we are really and truly a management team. No important decisions are made without each of us consulting one another. My brother Paul is, much like our father and grandfather before him, is an ‘all-arounder’ and a ‘jack of all trades’. There seems to be no problem, regardless off how tangled, that he can’t unsnarl with his patience, skills, and persistence. Nothing seems beyond his ability to repair, alter, or modify. My brother Paul, even more than myself, is another ‘chip off the old block’. There have been numerous times when we could have contracted for outside plant improvements. Instead, often as not, Paul would lead the decision to simply ‘gear up’ and do it ourselves. It would be a mistake to categorize Paul as just an outside plant supervisor. He is really very involved in all aspects of the administration of our company.

By 1987, we had converted totally to digital switching and had over 90% of the outside wiring buried. In 1990, we replaced the intra-county analog microwave system with a fiber link. In 1991, we formulated a plan to extend a fiber-optic line fifty-five miles to Las Vegas enabling us to provide capacity from Las Vegas to Reno. The plan also included thirteen miles of fiber from Pioche to Panaca. Today our fiber link has been integrated into those belonging to Moapa Valley Telephone Company, Rio Virgin Telephone Company and Sprint. By tying these fiber-optic lines together into one network, we can control traffic flow between three companies as we offer high quality digital links to the rest of the world.

The 1990s have been a busy time for the Lincoln County Telephone System. First, in 1992, we installed a DMS-10 host switch in Pioche with a remote in Panaca. In 1993, we installed two additional remotes to serve Alamo and Caliente. In 1996, we replaced the switching equipment in Lake Valley and Sand Springs with remotes as well. the remote serving Sand Springs was made possible by replacing the analog microwave system. By 1996, we had removed the last of our old switching equipment and had established a host remote switching network. By completing this network we were ready for equal access on January 1, 1997. By the end of 1997, we will have installed SS-7 capability, allowing Lincoln County Telephone System to offer a fully integrated, intelligent network capability.

The move toward deregulation in 1984 has really shaped our vision of the future. The uncertainty no longer causes much anxiety for us. We have become accustomed to change here at the Lincoln County Telephone System. We just change and adapt, keeping our eye on the needs of our customers. I do admit that there are days when I find myself driving down U.S. Highway 93, wondering how my father and grandfather did such a great job of getting this company on its feet and successful. Sometimes it seems like my brother Paul and I together just barely make up just one of our forefathers. But then I look at all that we have accomplished and all the future challenges ahead and I know that they are proud of us. That’s one of the great advantages of working within a company with a three generation legacy of service- knowing and appreciating the people we serve- Lincoln County, Nevada.