This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: RedRiverTXOK Surnames: Jameson, Caldwell, Floyd, Callaghan, Rowe, Word, Brumett Classification: biography Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/surnames.wright/15260/mb.ashx Message Board Post: >From the Amarillo Sunday News-Globe published at Amarillo, Texas. Sunday, April 11, 1948 Early Panhandle News Traveled Fast on Barbed Wire Phone Line by JOE LAIR .The time could have been anytime between 1896 and 1898. The restaurant of JACK FLOYD'S was located in the vicinity of the present American National Bank building. The phone was the first in Amarillo and was brought here and installed by WAYNE C. WRIGHT, who didn't know any more about electricity or telephones than any other rancher, but who wasn't afraid to find out. Mr. Wright came to the Panhandle in 1890 and began to raise cattle. He and his two brothers, JESS WRIGHT and JOE WRIGHT located northeast of Amarillo in about 1895. Joe Wright's ranch was located about where St. Francis is now. Jess Wright was about 2 miles to the south and Wayne 7 miles to the north. WAYNE WRIGHT heard about the telephone in 1895 and went to Chicago to investigate. He bought several telephones and brought them back. First the three Wright brothers, distant cousins of ORVILLE and WILBUR WRIGHT, strung up wire between their respective ranch homes. Then Wayne couldn't see why special wire had to be strung when there were miles and miles of barbed wire fence in every direction. Would the telephone work on barbed wire strung to post? He tried it out on the top wire of several acres fences for keeping saddle horses handy and found it worked. He then installed the telephone in Jack Floyd's restaurant and later in 1898 moved it to the old Amarillo Hotel. He used barbed wire all the way from his home to Amarillo, some 20 miles. After he had installed the phone in the restaurant in 1896, he made a good income on the side by selling and installing telephones for his neighbors, connecting the system on party lines to a crude but efficient homemade exchange located at his house. His wife acted as telephone operator. He also installed a telephone in ASBURY CALLAGHAN'S Hotel in Panhandle. The phones were much like the rural party line phones of today, but instead of dry cell batteries, they used glass jars full of sal ammonia. The party lines, like those of today's rural phones, had many different rings, one for each phone on the line. Wright's fame as an installer of telephones spread and he put in phones at other towns around the Panhandle. He installed one line from the ROWE Ranch into to Clarendon, one from the WORD Ranch into Canyon and one from TOM BRUMMETT'S into Claude. Persons 50 miles apart could talk over barbed wire lines, but the ringing signal would carry only 15 to 20 miles. The WAYNE WRIGHT switchboard relayed between Amarillo and Panhandle. Sometimes after a heavy rain, low places would fill with water and cover the fences, but still persons could talk over the barbed wire line although they couldn't ring. In 1900 WAYNE WRIGHT obtained a franchise to construct, operate, and maintain a switchboard and ordered a hundred drop switchboard and 100 telephones. Shortly after he obtained the franchise, he became ill and the franchise was given to a J. B. SISK who installed and operated the first switchboard in Amarillo. WAYNE WRIGHT and his brothers sold out for a good price in 1911 and left the Panhandle. All three have long since died, but one of Wayne's daughters, Mrs. T. N. JAMESON, and her husband who helped her father install many of the phones, live at 1318 East 11th. They keep the memory of the installer of the telephone in Amarillo strong. T. M. CALDWELL, who helped operate the first switchboard in Amarillo, also remembers WAYNE WRIGHT well. Question: How were these three Wright brothers distant cousins of Orville and Wilbur Wright? Appreciate any information. Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.