Press Release
935 Words
Ponderosa
Telephone Celebrates 100 Years of Family Business: Shares Secrets to Success
Ponderosa Telephone of
O’Neals, CA is celebrating 100 years of business.
The Bigelow family story is the story of the central
San Joaquin
Valley
and the determined pioneers who tamed the rough and tumble territory in the
late 1800’s. Scratching out a
living in the rural foothills near O’Neals took a great deal of grit and hard
work. This telephone business was
founded by Harmon Bigelow and is one of a handful of companies surviving 100
years in the
Central Valley
that is still family-owned and operated. Making
a living was the priority of the day and Harmon Bigelow was the type of fellow
who liked to make his own opportunities. In
1900 young Harmon secured a contract to transport U.S. Mail from
Madera
to Fresno Flats and O’Neals with just 2 horses and a small spring wagon.
The need for transportation services for the foothill and mountain
communities grew and a stageline business was
born—with resources of 150 horses at the peak of his business.
The telephone business was
actually inspired by Harmon’s wife, Leota.
Leota lived on the homestead ranch north of downtown O’Neals and wanted
to speak with her mother, Nancy Mercer, who lived a mile away across Road 200 at
the base of what today is called Mercer Mountain.
They wanted something more convenient than hooking up a horse to a wagon
to be able to speak with each other. The
whole thing started with 2 phones from a mail order catalog.
Harmon grew the telephone network from a family convenience to an
essential communications tool for the stageline business, ultimately extending
to the surrounding foothill communities of Friant, North Fork, and
Clovis
. Harmon voluntarily exited the
stageline business around 1915 when transportation technology radically changed
with the introduction of the mass-produced automobile.
He expanded (suggestion: expanded,
instead of grew, since grew is used previously) his ranching business and hung
onto the telephone business.
Throughout the years there
have been relatively few family leadership transitions.
In 1938 Jesse Bigelow took over as president following the death of his
father, Harmon. Jesse continued to grow the business through significant
investment in the network infrastructure, extending to Auberry, then
Shaver
Lake
and up to Big Creek. Jesse also
remained a rancher, raising sheep and cattle.
In 1979 Jesse Bigelow died and passed the reins to his son, Robert
Bigelow, assisted by Bob Silkwood, who was married to Jesse’s only daughter,
Luanne. Jesse left his family with
this advice: “Don’t get rid of the telephone company—it is your eggs and
bacon”. With a promise from the
new leadership to “bow our necks” and work 24-hours around the clock the
company made another leadership transition.
The new leadership continued
the modernization of the telephone network.
In the early 1980s tragedy struck the family as Jesse, Robert Bigelow and
Bob Silkwood passed away within an 18-month span.
This left the family leadership to Jesse’s only daughter,
Luanne Silkwood
, who became the first woman president of Ponderosa Telephone.
When asked how she coped with such a tragic and sudden responsibility of
leadership, Luanne answers with the same determined conviction of her pioneer
family, “There was nothing to do but run the business and move forward.”
And with that her tenure began. Mrs.
Silkwood has successfully guided the family business through turbulent
regulatory times as well as embracing the explosion of new telecommunication
technology. Today, Mrs. Silkwood
owns and directs the company along with her daughter, Kristi Mattes, Vice
President, and nephew,
Frank Bigelow
, Vice President.
Twenty five years after
assuming leadership of the family telephone company, Mrs. Silkwood has learned a
thing or two about running a business. When asked for the secret to enduring a
century of family ownership, she responded that Ponderosa Telephone is not just
a business, it is a family lifestyle:
“For 5 generations my
family has been passionately invested in a rural lifestyle and their community,
from logging to stageline transportation to ranching and communications.
Providing quality communication solutions for life in the surrounding
communities is a natural extension to preserving a beloved rural American
lifestyle for generations to come. And this is very important to me for my
grandchildren and beyond.
My secret to success in
business is I am only as successful as the people I surround myself with.
Without the talents of our management team and employees there would be
no Ponderosa Telephone. Attracting
capable employees along with the flexible mindset by our family leadership
results in a commitment to serve our customers and will take Ponderosa to
another century of successful business.”
Mrs. Silkwood refers to her
employees as “The Ponderosa Family” and is dedicated to creating an
enjoyable work environment. In 2008,
the employees will be honored by the Silkwood, Mattes and Bigelow families for
their dedication and hard work with commemorative activities throughout the
year. A historic timeline of
Ponderosa Telephone has been compiled and presented on the company website so
customers, employees and historians can understand the grand scheme of a small
business, telecommunications technology and the
Central Valley
’s rural lifestyle through Ponderosa’s historic journey.
Ponderosa
Telephone is located in the foothills of O’Neals, CA, approximately 25 miles
northeast of
Fresno
and
Clovis
. 80 employees serve approximately 10,000 subscriber lines in the rural
communities of Friant, Tollhouse, Auberry, Prather,
Shaver
Lake
,
Huntington
Lake
, Wishon, O’Neals and North Fork, plus a remote exchange in
Cima
,
CA
, in the
Mojave Desert
. Extended services include Internet, Long Distance and Cable TV. For
more information on the centennial celebration please visit our web site: www.goponderosa.com/centennial
|