Jim.Redelfs@uunet.uu.net> (06/03/91)
> When I look at old photographs of Chicago, say from the 1900-1920 > era, all I see in the sky are telephone poles and wires running > everywhere. The wires criss-cross in all directions running up and > down the streets, etc. And now, telephone poles, while not rare, are > far less common here. In the downtown area you don't see one for > blocks at a time. In the residential areas, we have poles in the > alley behind the houses in many areas, but very few on the main > streets. They have buried almost everything. When Northwestern Bell Telephone Company celebrated its centennial (1979) they published an EXCELLENT book, "Good-bye Central, Hello World", specially commissioned for the occasion. In the book was a photograph of downtown Omaha's Harney Street - and the maze of overhead wires. As I recall, the poles had TWELVE cross arms! In the book it was mentioned that the Omaha City Council passed an ordinance mandating that NWB have ALL plant UNDERGROUND (between the Missouri River and 24th Street) by 1935! One of the things that, as a phoneman, strikes me is when I drive into Lincoln, NE. Lincoln Telephone and Telegraph Company STILL has MANY, major feeder cables hanging in the air along MAIN streets! Most of the distribution cables are enshrouded in squirrel-guard. Heaven only knows how old the plant under it is! What galls me is that we spent the last 20-30 years BURYING all (most) of our plant then, in a couple, short years, CATV hung "it" all back up there again! JR Tabby 2.2 MacNet Omaha 402-289-2899 On loan from Mrs MacWidow (1:285/14)