Art Brothers and Beehive Telephone Company
After college, Art became increasingly aware of the unmet needs for telephone communication in rural areas where there was no telephone access at all, just the postal service. Puzzling through the legalities and regulatory complexities of telecom law, he applied to the Nevada Public Utility Commission to serve Montello, Nevada and Grouse Creek, Utah as a company he called “Silver Beehive Telephone Company” – because Nevada was the Silver State, and Utah was the Beehive State. Later he shortened the name to Beehive Telephone Company. The Nevada Public Service Commission shot him down but later, the Utah Public Service Commission granted him a Certificate of Necessity. Art wrote in his diary, “God hath made me a telephone company.” Art and his young wife, Tina Brothers, set off to rural Box Elder County to bring telephone service to Grouse Creek. True to his nature, Art created it all out of nothing and sweat equity. He used wire he got from military surplus and switching equipment given him by another phone company. He hand-built the original long-distance line, climbing every pole, hanging every cross arm, stringing every piece of wire on every insulator. When he was done, Grouse Creek residents had telephone communications, and Art has since replicated this in every unserved area he could find and anywhere that Ma Bell wouldn’t serve. He was the CEO, the chief financial officer, and the lineman. He served his remote areas by piloting his own planes, sometimes landing on public highways and roads when necessary. Today, Beehive Telephone – now known as Beehive Broadband — employs 48 people and provides state-of-the- art service in telephone and broadband. Some of the original wire can still be seen along the roads and fences in the Grouse Creek Valley and the metal wire spools can be seen at campsites and homes. His life became legendary for its inventiveness and resourcefulness. He was twice featured in the Wall Street Journal and for years, he wrote a column in a national magazine for rural telephone companies, inspiring and entertaining his readers by recounting his many adventures all over the world. He often received letters from mothers whose children had been saved from illness because they could (finally) telephone a doctor or a hospital, and for years, he maintained a telephone number (“1-234-567-8910”) where children could call and talk to “Santa Claus” – which caused Mountain Bell great consternation.