Belleman’s 76 gas station at Four Corners is shown here after a 1948 snow storm. It was located on the southeast corner of the intersection of the Maple Valley Highway and Kent-Kangley Road. The site is now occupied by a Shop Fast convenience store and station. This Union Oil station and adjacent lunch counter (see 12-8-20 column) were built in 1945 by Guy Nando Belleman and his wife, Myrtle Anna (Neal). In the distance behind the gas pump was the mine office of Palmer Coking Coal Co., who relocated from Durham to Four Corners in 1939. In the early days Four Corners was actually configured for five corners with the Summit-Landsburg Road intersecting diagonally from the, adjacent to the Palmer office. The awkward junction made for a dangerous crossroad and the scene of numerous accidents.
In the upper left of the photo is a series of telephone poles along Highway 169 extending north to Renton. Each pole supported seven, 10-pin cross-arms carrying a total of 70 insulators to protect the iron and copper wires from electrical leakage that might impair communications. Additionally, the poles carried lead cable used for local telephone service. However, the primary use of most lines was for “toll” or long distance telephone and telegraph service to Yakima and points east. At that time, long distance calling involved an operator who physically made connections from a switchboard, referred to as cord-boards by telephone company personnel. For example, a Yakima resident might ask, “Would you connect me to a Seattle line?” The operator then plugged a connecting cord into Seattle’s trunk line where a local operator answered and patched through to the particular home in question. In time all communities converted to dial telephones so the toll lead was abandoned in the early 1970s. This north-looking photo #P17.06.26 comes courtesy of Teresa Belleman and the Maple Valley Historical Society, with background information on poles and wires provided by Gary Habenicht, a former telephone company employee.
