For the next several weeks, we will feature photos of 鈥淵orkton Citizens at Work鈥� 鈥� entrepreneurs and employees in the work place. At the turn of the 20th century, Thomas Paul, had a jewelry shop located in the Carson Block at #29 & #31 Broadway Street East. He had been a 鈥渃ontinental Code Operator鈥� (telegraph) probably in Scotland before coming to Canada, and had taken up telephones as a hobby, turning it into a business in 1900, when he began operating Yorkton鈥檚 first telephone service. The telephone office was in upstairs rooms of the block, with his wife, Sarah Margaret (or Maggie)and also two daughters as operators. Paul鈥檚 enterprise, called The Yorkton North West Electric Company Limited, was sanctioned by the town council, who gave him a tax exempted monopoly. It was quite an exciting venture for the town鈥檚 population. In 1912, the company which was serving 188 subscribers was bought out by the Department of Telephones. By 1915, the Pauls were living in Regina and Thomas enlisted for service in the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force on December 27 of that year. Note: The first telephone exchange in the Provisional District of Assiniboia, now Saskatchewan was in Lamont鈥檚 book store in Regina in 1887. H. Jackson Collection.
This History Corner was originally published in the Feb. 3, 2010 issue of Yorkton This Week.
Terri Lefebvre-Prince
