Lightening Underfoot!

The West River Telephone Exchange opened in 1907 with 15 customers.  

Martha Welch was the Operator.  The Switchboard was in her home.  

In 1909 Martha Welch's daughter Martha Wayson became Operator.  She built an addition on her house to accommodate the ever larger switchboard.  

Irene Wayson, Martha's daughter-in-law, worked shifts at the switchboard:

    “All the young women in the village worked there at one time or another.

There were two operators on duty during the day.  Martha had the night shift.  We sat on benches.  

    "Big cables with telephone wires passed under our feet feeding lines into the switchboard which stood in front of us.  It was about 9 feet wide - you couldn’t see over it when you stood up.  It was a ‘drop’ system:  if someone was ringing the operator, the cord plugged into their socket would ‘drop’ out.

    "If a lightening storm hit some part of the district, the drops connected to the houses in that part would all drop out at once.  We’d have to scramble to put them all back quickly in case someone was trying to make a call.  Meanwhile the lightening would be running around the floor right under our feet, following the wires into the switchboard. 

   "It didn’t hurt us because we were grounded, but it didn’t feel too good either seeing that lightening running around the room!” (Irene Wayson)

West River Telephone Exchange 1940 (Doris Phibbons photo)

By 1926 there were 400 telephone customers in West River.

In 1931 the telephone company built a new house for the Switchboard.

Essie Hardesty became Operator and moved in with her family in 1933.

In 1947, modern dial equipment put the Switchboard out of business.  

The switchboard room was turned into the Post Office, and Essie became the 18th West River Postmaster, the first woman to hold the job.