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History of Big Bend Telephone |
In the late 1950’s Neville Haynes had a vision of providing communications service to people who lived in the vast isolated region of the Big Bend Area of Texas. Recognizing the advantages of mobile radio communications and captivated by its potential, he filled out a Motorola Corporation application found in a magazine and requested that a salesman call upon him. That simple request had significant consequences, not the least of which was the appearance of Chet Pringle, the Motorola salesman. It was Chet Pringle who conceived of an eventual wire-line service, and who had the background and the foresight to apply for a Miscellaneous Common Carrier license from the FCC, the first license of its kind to be granted.
The mobile-radio operation was manned by Neville & Virginia Haynes and Charles & Margaret Anne DeBarbrie and served 32 customers. The Big Bend Telephone Company, organized in 1960, requested an interconnect agreement with Southwestern Bell. A Toll Agreement was made with the Bell System in October 1960. An Area Coverage Survey (ACS) was conducted and took several months due to the vastness of the area. When the final report was submitted to Washington for consideration of feasibility and determination of rates, the total number of establishments was 871. 684 were expected to be enrolled as subscribers to the Big Bend Telephone system in 5 years. The forecast for ten years was estimated to be 724 customers. The area covered included locations with such colorful names as Langtry, Big Canyon, Six Shooter, Hell’s Half Acre, Calamity Creek, Alamito, and Heath Canyon.
Feasibility was sufficiently established by August 1963 to allow a news release announcing the construction of the Big Bend Telephone Company system. The Alpine Avalanche gave front page coverage to the story headlined “Rural Phone Line Planned – Big System will cost $2 million”. The story featured the prospective size of the system to incorporate 6 counties and to cover 20,000 square miles. When this announcement was made there were skeptics in the home community of the new telephone company, who later admitted their lack of foresight. Such a monumental undertaking had no precedent in the Big Bend country and it seemed unlikely that it could succeed.
In 1964, the company received REA approval and entered into a Telephone Loan contract with REA. The experimental nature of the Big Bend Telephone project was candidly described by REA Field Representative Martin Van Cleave. “Your project is not like anything REA has ever worked with before – vastness of area and rough terrain, an innovative prospect for REA”. The company received nation-wide publicity when its loan application was approved, because one of its exchanges was planned for an area famous in Texas history with the classic name of “Hell’s Half-Acre.” Later planning eliminated the need for the picturesquely named exchange but lots of Texans thought it would be great fun to phone somebody in “Hell’s Half-Acre.” In 1965, Southwestern Bell Telephone Company granted 2-way EAS to Big Bend Telephone Company.
On October 15, 1972, a tragic event occurred which could have had devastating results for the Company. On that date, a Cherokee 140 airplane, while attempting to fly under the Pecos Bridge, struck the Big Bend Telephone wires across the Pecos River, crashed, killing the pilot and his new daughter-in-law. Big Bend Telephone was sued by the pilot’s son and family for over $2 million, for allegedly failing to mark cables and to warn pilots of the unmarked cable. The Company’s position was that the pilot was operating his airplane in a reckless and careless manner and was responsible for the accident. This case was watched with interest by the entire utility industry in Texas. At the trial, held June of 1975, the F.A.A. testified that the company was not required to mark the lines that span the Pecos River, nor was there any obligation to issue NOTAMS or to notify pilots or the public at large that there were wires crossing the river. The F.A.A.’s testimony left no doubt as to the illegality of the plane’s actions, pointing out that the pilot violated the law while flying at an altitude of less than 500 feet while approaching the bottom of the bridge. The jury unanimously agreed that Big Bend Telephone Company was not guilty of negligence, and that the plane crash was caused by negligence on the part of the pilot. The verdict represented a landmark decision in the State of Texas, in that it established an important precedence for utility companies.
Despite the shadow of an impending lawsuit that hung over the Company for three years, the system expanded and adjusted to the changing trends of the times. In 1976, the Company filed an application with the FCC for a new 2 GHz microwave system. In the November 1976 issue of Telephone Engineer and Management featured an article about Big Bend Telephone’s microwave installation entitled “Why Small Independent Chose Digital Radio”. The author described the Alpine and Big Bend area romantically, calling it “removed from civilization – the essence of the Old West”, and stressed the numerous maintenance problems that plagued the open-wire system including flood, lightening, and crows nesting on the lines. Tracing the company’s progress over a 16 year period, the author described in detail the primitive conditions from which it sprang, commencing with antiquated local battery phone systems and 2-way radio. At the time the article was written it was the largest 2 GHz microwave system in the United States, serving an area with a population density of less than .18 per sq. mile.
In the eighties, the company enjoyed more growth and modernization. Several different technologies of radio equipment were used on a trial basis in an effort to replace the long loops of open wire and an upgraded version of power line carrier was installed in the Bid Bend National Park. Four digital central offices were put in and the original backbone of the 2 GHz toll microwave was upgraded to 6 GHz, and the exchanges of Sanderson and Langtry were added.
Neville Haynes, who had an interest in the history of telephone technology, accumulated a considerable collection of antique telephone equipment; the bulk of the collection was acquired from Brad Smith, former executive director of the Texas Telephone Association and longtime friend. Mr. Haynes established the Big Bend Telephone Company Museum with this dedication, “this Telephony Museum has been established to commemorate our forefathers – pioneer men and women – whose vision, courage and fortitude transformed a frontier wilderness into a prosperous and civilized land. Despite untold hardships those early settlers endured, leaving to their descendents a legacy of regional pride. Remembering their isolation and yearning for access to communication we gratefully dedicate this collection of telephone art to those who have gone before, and to the pioneer spirit that still lives in the people of the Big Bend”.
The museum became a big draw for tourists visiting the Big Bend area. The company was given an award from the Chamber of Commerce for the museum’s cultural contribution to the community and the area. The Telephone Museum was featured in the August 1981 issue of Texas Highways in an article which stated “every once in a while on Texas trails, you’ll run into a hidden jewel, a place not widely advertised but worthwhile nevertheless. Such a place is the Telephone Museum of the Big Bend Telephone Company in Alpine. The museum comprises a collection without rival in the state and perhaps in the nation with some 100 plus rare phones and associated paraphernalia – switchboards, insulators, terminals, even entire telephone booths.” The company and the telephone museum were also featured in a state-wide television program, the “Eyes of Texas”. In 1984 the museum was donated to the Texas Chapter of the Telephone Pioneers Association and is now displayed at the One Bell Plaza Building in Dallas, Texas.
The Company’s founder, Neville Haynes, died in 1984 and his son, Jeff Haynes, ran the company from 1980 to 2006. Currently, Justin Haynes, son of Jeff Haynes, runs the company. The Company’s goal continues to be to provide quality phone service at the lowest cost possible to customers in the vast, rugged area of the Big Bend region of Texas.
Excerpts of this text were taken from “History of Big Bend Telephone Company 1960-1980” by Celia Thompson. |
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