Malheur Home Telephone Company, commonly known as Malheur Bell, was a rural telephone company operating in

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

. It was a wholly owned subsidiary of

Qwest Corporation Qwest Corporation is a former Regional Bell Operating Company owned by Lumen Technologies. It was formerly named U S WEST Communications, Inc. from 1991 to 2000, and also formerly named Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph Company from 1911 t ...

, the Bell Operating Company of Qwest Communications International.

History

The original local ancestor of Malheur Bell, and the first telephone company in

Malheur County Malheur County () is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the population was 31,571. Its county seat is Vale, and its largest city is Ontario. The county was named after the Malheur River, which runs ...

, was the Malheur Telephone Company, opening in 1895 in

Vale, Oregon Vale is a city in and the county seat of Malheur County, Oregon, United States, about west of the Idaho border. It is at the intersection of U.S. Routes 20 and 26, on the Malheur River at its confluence with Bully Creek. Vale was selected ...

, Another company,

Rocky Mountain Bell ''Rocky'' is a 1976 American sports drama film directed by John G. Avildsen and written by and starring Sylvester Stallone. It is the first installment in the ''Rocky'' franchise and stars Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weathers, and Burgess ...

provided a

toll line Toll may refer to: Transportation * Toll (fee) a fee charged for the use of a road or waterway ** Road pricing, the modern practice of charging for road use ** Road toll (historic), the historic practice of charging for road use ** Shadow toll, ...

to the exchange in 1898 as part of a line between

Boise, Idaho Boise (, , ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho and is the county seat of Ada County. On the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, it is east of the Oregon border and north of the Nevada border. The downtown ar ...

and Weiser, Idaho, and opened its own local telephone exchanges along the line in

Ontario, Oregon Ontario is the largest city in Malheur County, Oregon, United States. It lies along the Snake River at the Idaho border. The population was 11,366 at the 2010 census. The city is the largest community in the region of far eastern Oregon, also k ...

in 1900 and

Nyssa, Oregon Nyssa is a city in Malheur County, Oregon, United States. The population was 3,267 at the 2010 census. The city is located along the Snake River on the Idaho border, in the region of far eastern Oregon known as the " Treasure Valley". It is par ...

in 1903. However, the Independent Long Distance Telephone Company of Idaho opened another toll line in the area in 1907, and two local phone companies associated with it were soon formed: the Ontario Independent Telephone Company in 1909, and the Nyssa Owyhee Independent Telephone Company in 1910. That system competed directly with Rocky Mountain Bell and its connected local phone companies in the same towns. The Malheur Home Telephone Company was incorporated in 1910 and set about purchasing the telephone systems in the area, starting with Malheur Telephone in Vale and Rocky Mountain Bell, with its Bell franchise, in Nyssa and Ontario. In 1911 it bought the Oregon portion of the toll lines of both Rocky Mountain Bell and Independent Long Distance Telephone Company of Idaho, also taking the Ontario Independent Telephone Company in 1911 and Nyssa Owyhee in 1912. Rocky Mountain Bell received so much Malheur Home Telephone Company stock in exchange for Rocky Mountain Bell property that Rocky Mountain Bell obtained

controlling interest A controlling interest is an ownership interest in a corporation with enough voting stock shares to prevail in any stockholders' motion. A majority of voting shares (over 50%) is always a controlling interest. When a party holds less than the major ...

of Malheur. This controlling interest was carried through the later merger of Rocky Mountain Bell with other telephone companies into the Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph Company. Over time Mountain States Telephone also bought out the minority shareholders of Malheur, eventually becoming the sole owner of Malheur. Malheur continued to remain an independent operation of Mountain States Telephone. PNB became a sister Bell Operating Company of Mountain Bell under

US West US West, Inc. (stylized as US WEST) was one of seven Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs, also referred to as "Baby Bells"), created in 1983 under the Modification of Final Judgement (''United States v. Western Electric Co., Inc.'' 552 ...

ownership in 1984. In 1991, US West merged its operating companies into Mountain Bell, renamed US West Communications; however, Malheur Bell remained independent of the rest of US West operations, and continued to use the Bell trademark. In 2000, US West was acquired by

Qwest Qwest Communications International, Inc. was a United States telecommunications carrier. Qwest provided local service in 14 western and midwestern U.S. states: Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dako ...

, and US West Communications was renamed

. Malheur Bell continued to operate independently of its parent until its operations were fully integrated into Qwest on December 14, 2009.

References

External links

* {{webarchive , url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100325155952/http://www.malheurbell.net/ , date=March 25, 2010 , title=Malheur Bell — 3 months after official closure 1895 establishments in Oregon American companies established in 1895 Telecommunications companies established in 1895 2009 disestablishments in Oregon American companies disestablished in 2009 Telecommunications companies disestablished in 2009 Bell System Communications in Oregon Companies based in Oregon Defunct telecommunications companies of the United States Lumen Technologies Malheur County, Oregon