[GreenKeys] Seattle Western Union History

[George B. Hutchison]

GreenKeyers - - -

I recently received a call from a Mr. Harvey Glilland, Of St. 
Petersburg, Alaska.

Harvey worked for Western Union and a number of other communications 
entities such as Alascom, the forerunner of the telephone company in 
Alaska.

As we chatted he remarked on a number of interesting things about the 
Western Union operation here in the Seattle area.

To me Western Union was an outfit who had teletype machines in ugly 
green boxes, strange miniature Fax Machines that used wierd paper, 
and their own Nationwide Microwave network, just to name a few.

He has contacted me regarding a plan to put down in writing a number 
of things he remembers about Western Union here in Seattle.

I know this is a TELETYPE reflector, but I also know that there are a 
number of serious Western Union and Telegraph enthusiasts on 
GreenKeys.

I am posting an email I received from him this evening, and hope that 
those of you who have an interest in Western Union history will 
contact him and encourage him to indeed put his experiences with W.U. 
down on paper.

His e-mail address is: sloughview at attalascom.net

Here's his e-mail - - -


I've actually given some thought to putting together  something about 
all of
the Seattle Western Union operation that I was acquainted with, 
including
teletype equipment and circuits including multiplexing, the facsimile
system, key & sounder telegraph (using American Morse....a bit 
different
than International Morse code), pneumatic tube operation, and the 
phone
department with singing telegrams, etc.  Life is full though.  What 
would I
do with such a write-up anyway?  Any ideas?  Would anyone care 
enough?

Kindest regards, Harvey KL7FFP

Gentlemen, I leave it up to you.

We all should remember that as we head for the final NNNN, each of us 
does indeed have some history that should not be lost.

I have been asked to give a "Forum" on RTTY at Pacificon 2008 to be 
held in San Ramon, Calif. in October of this year.

My plans thus far are to just regale those interested with what was 
happening in RTTY in the Bay Area with regards to RTTY from about 
1955 to 1960, and then chronicle some of my experiences with Irv 
Hoff, Bob Weitbrecht, the 3612.5 Autostart Net, and other teletype 
trivia of the late 60's. This will require me to put a lot on paper 
and to put it in some semblance of order so that whomever might show 
up for the presentation won't be falling asleep.

I would like to ask any and all of you who ever dealt with Irv, 
W6FFC, in some way shape or form, to please send me an anecdotal 
recollection of your experience.

Irv laid a lot of track for a lot of people in the amateur and 
commercial communications fields, and this I believe would be an 
excellent opportunity to contribute to some manner of chronicle of 
this rather incredible man's legacy. For example, think about the 
fact that the design of the ST-6 is about forty years old, and in 
many instances ST-6s are still going strong!

Thanks in advance for anything you folks have to contribute.

George - W7TTY