The Ponderosa Telephone Co. which evolved from this link, is the
result of Jesse Bigelow's foresight and the Bigelow family's continued
involvement in the telephone business. Jess saw telephone service as more than a
convenience; he saw it's potential. As a result, the Bigelows decided to string
additional telephone lines to enable the stage line business to communicate not
only to the stage line, but also to the Forest Service, to the Southwest
California Utility Group, and more importantly to the communities.
In 1912, the Biglow family extended its informal network to
connect with the outside world at Clovis, near Fresno. Until this time the
telephone network had been a private system, owned and maintained by the
Bigelows. Whoever wanted to use the service did so at no charge. However, upon
hooking up with the "outside world" the State Railroad Commission, the
ruling communications authority at that time, declared the family was operating
a telephone company. The Railroad Commission gave the Bigelows a franchised
territory of 650 square miles, serving two Counties and assigned tariff rates to
make the company officially the "Bigelow Telephone Company."
In 1957 the Company's name was changed from Bigelow Telephone
Company to The Ponderosa Telephone Co. and was incorporated at the time.
Today, The Ponderosa Telephone Co. service area has expanded to
over 1,600 square miles and includes areas like the town of Friant, which lays
in flat lands at about 400 feet above sea level, as well as the mountainous
country of the Sierra, which is 8,200 feet above sea level. In the spring of
1992 Ponderosa extended its service area to include over 1,200 square miles
surrounding the small desert community of Cima, located in Eastern San
Bernardino County.
The Company operates eight central offices in the communities of
Auberry, Big Creek, Cima, Friant, North Fork, Shaver Lake and Wishon. The
Company provides telephone service to approximately 10,000 subscriber lines. All of this
accomplished with a work force of around seventy employees.
The Ponderosa Telephone Co. is a family owned company which
believes in providing the highest quality state-of-the-art communications
capabilities.
