Above: WPA workers clearing a right of way and installing telephone line in Smith County, Mississippi, June 1938. The line was for residential use and also for use by the U.S. Forest Service for wildfire emergencies. Between 1935 and 1943, the WPA put up 3,904 miles of new telephone and telegraph lines, and reconstructed or improved another 2,353 miles (WPA final report, p. 132). Photo from the National Archives.
Above: A CCC-Indian Division crew works on a new telephone line project at the Fort Belknap Reservation in Montana, 1934. Photo from Indians at Work, a publication of the U.S. Office of Indian Affairs, March 1, 1934 edition.
Above: In just the first year of the CCC, an enormous amount of work was done to improve American Indian land, including 2,254 miles of telephone lines. Further, as a sort of "icing on the cake," this work was carried out by Indian enrollees who had desperately needed employment. Image from Indians at Work, October 15, 1934 edition.
Above: Enrollees in CCC Company 1905, stationed at Camp Hawkins Bar in Burnt Ranch, California, putting up a telephone pole, ca. 1938. This company installed at least 126 miles of telephone line. Photo and statistic from: Civilian Conservation Corps, Official Annual, Medford District, Ninth Corps Area, 1938 (likely a publication of Direct Advertising Co., Baton Rouge, Louisiana). Photo used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.
Above: A plaque commemorating a CCC-installed telephone line in the Grand Canyon that is now on the National Register of Historic Places. Across the country, the Triple Cs put up 88,883 miles of new telephone lines and maintained another 271,615 miles (CCC Director James McEntee's final report, p. 104). Among other benefits, these telephone lines--along with radio, truck trails, lookout towers, more water resources, and plenty of camps dotting the forests and countryside--allowed the CCC to respond to wildfires fast, usually before they got out of hand. Photo by Joel Kane, National Park Service.
Above: Beginning in 1949, the New Deal's Rural Electrification Administration (REA) began a low-interest loan program to establish telephone service in under-served rural areas because "it became clear that rural residents would not have access to adequate and dependable telephone service unless Federal support was provided" ("A Brief History of the Rural Electric and Telephone Programs," REA Bulletin 800-1, February 1990). Image scanned from a personal collection.
Above: As might be expected, private companies were not happy about government intervention in the telephone business. As was seen with electricity, companies wanted the power to (a) refuse affordable service to rural areas and (b) prevent those same areas from receiving government help in setting up their own phone lines. This mindset left many rural Americans without phone service during the first half of the 20th century. Image above from The Dothan Eagle (Dothan, Alabama), August 19, 1949, and newspapers.com, and used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.
Above: Despite the "Socialism!" fear-mongering, rural Americans wanted phone service and they knew a good deal when they saw one. In this newspaper excerpt--from the Mayfield Messenger (Mayfield, Kentucky), November 29, 1950--we see the Peoples Rural Telephone Cooperative (PRTC) in McKee, Kentucky, signing up (PRTC still operates today, 76 years later). Many private businesses seemed to ignore the socialism bogeyman too, as the article notes 29 "commercial companies" utilizing the REA phone loan program. By 1962, the REA had facilitated the installation of 442,000 miles of new telephone lines; by 1971, 579,233 miles; and by 1978, 800,000 miles (after 1971, Congress altered some lending mechanisms, but REA still played a central role). Image from newspapers.com, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.
Above: A chart showing the New Deal's success in increasing electric and phone service to rural America (from REA Bulletin 800-1). Dr. Christopher Ali, Professor of Telecommunications at Penn State, notes that "The legacy of the REA is not only one of loans, but of rural community championship... Today, over 900 electric cooperatives and 226 telephone cooperatives are a testament to this foresight, initiative, and support" ("The Legacy of the Rural Electrification Act and the Promise of Rural Broadband," The Law and Political Economy Project, July 12, 2021).
Telecommunications, New Deal-style
Adding up just the CCC and REA numbers highlighted above (other agencies don't do a great job of reporting, for example, the WPA's combining of telephone and telegraph work), we arrive at 888,000+ miles of new telephone lines. These lines connected rural America, helped American Indians, and protected forests from too many destructive fires.
New Deal telephone lines also highlight, yet again, the fact that we don't always have to rely on private business to meet our needs. We can also, quite effectively--and sometimes to greater effect--rely on ourselves, i.e., We the People.
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