Editor's Note: Jack Snyder reports that finding olive Hemingray 19's was one of the many highlights he had with Ma Bell before deciding to go on furlough after 27 years of fun "working"......1967-1994. Jack says that he knows not all of the Olive Hem 19's came from him, but he found his share.

I was a hot shot cable repairman for the Ohio Bell Telephone Company in the spring of 1970. The previous Toledo, Ohio winter had been especially brutal in the area. The spring rains kept us busy fixing those old lead cables that were constantly getting wet. In our haste to get everyone back in service as fast as possible we always closed our temporary cable openings with a black plastic wrap (slicker). These slickers were closed at a later date with a soldered lead sleeve in most cases. Sandusky, Ohio (the home of Cedar Point Amusement Park) which is 50 miles east of Toledo was equally hard hit.

Their skeleton crew couldn't catch up with the backlog that they created during the winter. They had a knapsack full of openings (nearly 300) that needed to be closed before fall set in. I got a chance to volunteer my services. Actually being the low man with 3 years seniority I was unceremoniously forced to "volunteered" for work in Sandusky for the entire summer. I met my foreman Walter Shadle on the 1st day of June at The Italian Gardens. It was my temporary home for the duration of the summer. I was expected to work 40 scheduled hours plus 8 hours of overtime per week. I also got a per diem food voucher. If I ate less I got to pocket the difference in cash. I was also got paid travel time for the trip to and from Toledo each Friday and Monday while driving the company vehicle! Those were good perks for a 22 year old married guy with a wife and 2 children.

I was pulling down over $200 a week! Its was great duty. I was allowed to work any schedule I desired. I didn't have to report to the garage (or anyone). Don't get ahead of me now. I chose to work 12 hour days (Monday through Thursday) and travel home Friday morning for a 3 day weekend all summer long. I also found many unexpected perks...INSULATORS. This area was virgin territory for a relatively new collector. There was no place in the area that was safe from my meandering. The entire area around the outside of Sandusky proper was a spider web of open wires. The city was surrounded by the General Telephone service area (the former Northern Ohio Telephone Co). The center of the city was split in half by an 8 arm lead (10 pins per arm) where the NYCRR conducted their business on their mainline, The Water Level Route, between Chicago and Buffalo. Needless to say Have Truck / Will Travel was my motto. The first week on the job I liberated nearly 25 pieces of glass. I drove every alley and nook my truck would fit thru. I scaled walls and stairways to remove forgotten pieces of glass in the business district. I ventured into foreign territory searching and finding many pieces of glass.

The most prolific of my finds was the Hemingray #19 sdp in olive green that may be setting on your insulator shelf right now. Nearly every railroad pole held anywhere from 2 to 5 of them. These must have been used as replacements as they were in no particular order of placement. I started off picking just the easy ones in the out of the way places. As I got more experienced tying and replacing insulators, I then made my move into the populated center of town. One of my biggest problems was finding replacement pieces for the olives I removed. Towards the end of my duty I actually took common pieces from my collection and reset them on pins. If someone ever found an aqua California signal on any of the lines in the area just remember I was there first. The trick to spotting the soot covered Olives was to have the insulator between you and the sun. They gave off a different shade of darkness than their dirty aqua brothers. I tended to leave damaged ones on the pole because the mint ones were worth a lot more...nearly $15 each! The RR lines west of town had a nice concentration. I usually tried to pick them early on Mondays when I was returning from Toledo for my weekly duties. I also found I had competition one day when I found some olive 19s in a Gypsum, Ohio antique store. The RR linemen were selling them to the owner for beer money. I actually preferred buying them at the shop for $5 each. I found many other insulators in quantity that summer including USTelCo tolls in all 3 colors, SBT&TCo skirt embossed kegs and olive Brookfield #36's. The best piece I found was on an abandoned fire alarm: a base embossed CD 105 American. Of course as you know the Olive 19 has withstood the test of time. I completed my job and finished up as scheduled the last week of August with accolades. Today the only thing left is the very busy tracks....all of the poles / insulators are long gone. Jack Snyder.

(Photograph from a Ray Klingensmith auction catalog.)