Thursday, November 9, 2017

Old School 911

The picture is from around 1960. It shows a part of the main street (Lincoln Avenue/U.S. 40) of Steamboat Springs, CO (I’m part of the Class of 1961).


The object suspended over the street was a light controlled by the local telephone operation.

Automation was still in the future and a live telephone operator was on duty 24/7/365. When someone needed police assistance, the operator would turn on the light. When any police officer saw the light was on, they would find a telephone and call in or stop by the phone office located off the main street.

The response time was probably poor but better than nothing. The population at the time was under 2,000 and there wasn’t any police dispatcher on duty at night and weekends. Other than the state patrol, all law enforcement relied on CB radio.


Small town life. The light was erected and maintained by volunteers.






The speed limit was, and remains, 25 mph. All 4.8 miles, strictly enforced (the town needed the revenue). One local hard ass, descended from a pioneer family, Truman Sandelin, decided to contest his citation. Hired a sharp lawyer who discovered the town had never received a state charter and therefore didn’t legally exist.

Wonder how much it cost him to beat that ticket?

15 comments:

Coffeypot said...

If it didn't exist, you weren't there. Amazing!

Well Seasoned Fool said...

Remains a unique place even though infested with trust funders and new money. Poor county with $84,000 average income per resident. Not so in Hayden, Oak Creek, Yampa and Toponas.

LL said...

I grew up in a town just as small. But the place where I grew up hasn't grown and been infested by trust fund babies.

Returning to a place that remains largely unaltered shows you how you have changed.

Well Seasoned Fool said...

I have little nostalgia for the place. I arrived in the seventh grade as a railroad foreman's son living in the wrong end of town. Nearly everyone in school started in the first grade together. Newcomers were regarded with suspicion. Surly asshole low social status newcomers were met with hostility. I made some friends but never fit in.

drjim said...

That's one of the places in Colorado I have have little interest in seeing. I'd rather see a small town with history that wasn't invaded by liberals.

We went to the Swetsville Zoo a week or so ago. Wonderful place!

Well Seasoned Fool said...

Neat town with a great museum 2+ hour drive - Walden, CO. Watch the weather. Colorado 14 through the Poudre Canyon and over Cameron Pass is one of the great drives in Colorado IMO. Drops you into North Park. From Walden you can return via Laramie on US 287. Same driving time but more miles.

Well Seasoned Fool said...

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g33683-d1569974-Reviews-North_Park_Pioneer_Museum_Opens_May_30th_for_the_Summer-Walden_Colorado.html
My great grandparents picture is above the front door.

drjim said...

I've heard about Walden. Some of our extended family member lived there.

We took Rist Canyon Road all the way to where it stops at Stove Prairie, then went across Stove Prairie to Poudre Canyon Road, and came down that (past the Mish!) to the 287. Quite a nice drive, even in my Jeep!

It would be a blast in the Supra, and I'm sure I'll do it in the Spring!

Well Seasoned Fool said...

Great Supra drive in the summer.
http://estes-park.com/peak-peak-scenic-byway

Old NFO said...

Needs must, and that light got the job done! Kudos to them for coming up with that!!!

Well Seasoned Fool said...

Brainchild of a local businessman who was all things electrical at the time.

drjim said...

We've been to Estes Park many times to see The Stanley. My wife is a HUGE Stephen King fan, and was quite disappointed to find out King only had the idea for the book there, and didn't do any actual writing of it there.

But whoo, boy...does the hotel ever play it up, or what!?!

Still, it's a very nice hotel, but out of our price range, except for the cheapest room. We had lunch there last summer out on the patio, and the food was good, but a bit pricey.

Well Seasoned Fool said...

I only go through Estes Park. Nothing there to interest me. Back in my misspent youth there was a 3.2 beer bar my then girlfriend liked in Estes. A good reason for visiting.

One of the routes Roush uses for testing cars runs through there (when Hwy 34 is open).

Brig said...

The small N Calif farming community town I spent my first 10 years near was so small it didn't have a stop light, of any kind. Couple grocery stores, a cafe, a bar, a machine shop, and a post office were pretty much it.
I don't go back.

Well Seasoned Fool said...

Understand. Several of the railroad towns we lived in had a population of thirty or less. Few had more than a hundred.