Queen of the phones!

We have spent all this time neglecting Lily Camp. Camp started her telephone operating career at Edison Telephone in Montreal, but moved on to Bell Canada in 1880 when Bell started hiring operators.

She said it wasn't too busy back then. The company had 150-200 customers. She knew the numbers by heart and there was no phone book. This photo was shot at the Telephone Pioneers meeting where she was feted September 19, 1950 for being one of the true firsties. In the beginning, Lachine, The Back River and Longue Pointe were all long distance calls from the M-Real City. Later on the long distance lines went to the Eastern Townships and then Ottawa, she was the first to connect a Montreal-to-Ottawa long distance call.