| By Bob Weaver
The phone directory issued by Frontier in 2011 signaled the end of an era.
Calhoun got crank'em up phones in the late 1880s, very early for such a rural community.
For about 120 years the phone outfits have published a local directory, with names and numbers with easy to read print.
In more recent years it has been for Grantsville and Arnoldsburg, but has included a number of regional communities that can be dialed locally.
The phone book white pages has consolidated lots of communities, although the book cover says Clay-Grantsville.
The book variously covers phone holders in Arnoldsburg, Birch River, Cairo, Clay, Clendenin, Cowen, Craigsville, Dutch Ridge, Elizabeth, Elkview, Grantsville, Gassaway, Gauley Bridge, Glenville, Harrisville, Ivydale, Lawford, Newton, Smithville, Spencer, Summersville, Walton, Webster Springs, and Widen.
Hopefully your eyes will hold up reading the very fine print listings, or maybe you'll need a magnifying glass.
Perhaps another inconvenience is that more people are dropping land-line service and solely using a cell phone.
In Calhoun cell phone service has rarely improved.
When you get the notion to call them up, you're out of luck unless you've captured their cell phone number, and then folks seem to constantly change their cell phones.
But then, there's texting, twittering and Facebooking to keep us connected, no talk, no in person.
See SUNNY CAL JOURNAL - Crank'em Up Phones Were 'High Tech'
CALHOUN GOT TELEPHONES EARLY - Grantsville Exchanges In 1957
CALHOUN PHONE COMPANIES - Independent Operations Cover Most Of County By 1900
PUP RUN ONCE SERVED BY HUR PHONE COMPANY
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