Electrical communication in Lewiston first came by telegraph lines along the railroad tracks to the station telegraph office, and the region’s first telephone lines later followed the same route, erected by the M and H Lumber Co. to communicate with logging camps and the surrounding communities of Grayling, Atlanta, and Hillman. The telephone exchange equipment stood in the first post office building alongside the Lewiston Journal newspaper and next door to the meat market. In 1914, that part of town burned down, and with the mill closed there was little need or money to continue service. For many years afterward, only one telephone remained in town at Sachs Hardware Store. Telephones then used two number 6 dry cell batteries for talking power, and a magneto crank on the phone alerted the operator in Atlanta to place a call; one crank signaled the operator, while five cranks alerted the fire towers to an emergency. There were no phone numbers, and calls were identified by distinctive ring patterns such as three short rings followed by one long ring. The entire Lewiston system was a single open party line, so neighbors could listen in simply by quietly lifting a receiver, and urgent calls had to wait if someone else was already using the line. Not until 1958 did the General Telephone Company of Michigan establish individual dialing and a modern exchange that gave Lewiston residents private residential telephone service. The Lewiston Journal, the town’s first newspaper, began publication in 1893, appeared weekly on Thursdays, and cost 75 cents a year by subscription.