"I'll call ya!"

I remember when calling Buckman from Sauk Rapids was a sort of game that depended on who you knew in between.  We could call Rice for free, Rice could call Royalton for free, and Royalton could call Buckman. Once the end person was reached, the process went in reverse...and people actually did this for each other.  A phone call directly to Aunt Jeanette might cost a whole dollar. Yikes!

But that's not what this post is about ☺.  
I've been finding announcements in the early Pierz Journals regarding early telephone service around there.  Thought you'd be interested!
(OK, so at least PRETEND to be ☺ ).

One ringy-dingy....

I remember the operator asking, "Number, please?" when I picked up the receiver--in 1954 or 55 in St Cloud, Minnesota.

This week, Larry was curious about when Buckman connected to the outside world by telephone, and he went looking online.  The startling thing was that he found the answer (!) from "Telephone Magazine", in 1904:

And, even better,  this from 1906:

We wondered if that's really all it took--a few people deciding to string lines?  Evidently, it was, more or less.  I saw an earlier bit in  Telephone Magazine that insisted on nothing less than  #8 gauge wire be used.

(BTW, the pic above is a random operator in 1925--she's no one we know...lol)