The War on the Farmer’s Telephone Line
When the Northern Pacific Railroad declared that it owned the right of way 'from heaven to hell,' it sparked a bitter, violent fight with rural farmers in Whitman County over their right to connect their communities.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The Northern Pacific Railroad company has begun a war on the rural telephone lines owned and operated by the farmers, and a bitter warfare is expected. Yesterday the line between Pullman and Palouse was cut at a point where it crosses the Northern Pacific tracks near the F. L. Titus farm. This is the second time this line has been cut by section men employed by the railroad company, the section men claiming they cut the line under orders from the roadmaster. The farmers are highly indignant over the matter, and an effort will be made to take the matter into the courts and prosecute the section men under the state law, which provides a penalty of not less than $200 fine or imprisonment for such an offense. John S. Klemgard, commissioner from the second district of Whitman County, said, 'The railroad company has served notice that it owns the right of way from heaven to hell, and will not allow its line crossed by anything. If this is true, and the road is successful, it will mean the death of rural telephone lines or any lines not controlled by the railroads. We admit they have the right of way to hell, but deny that the right of way extends to heaven.'
“We admit they have the right of way to hell, but deny that the right of way extends to heaven.”
This 1901 dispute over infrastructure access highlights the long history of corporate gatekeeping in the American West. Just as rural farmers fought for the right to connect their own phone lines, modern communities in Leavenworth and beyond continue to struggle for open, equitable access to essential infrastructure like fiber-optic internet against established utility monopolies.
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