Nushagak Electric & Telephone Cooperative, Inc.

January 16, 2005 marked the 30th anniversary of Nushagak Telephone Cooperative, Inc. (NTC), a telephone company which later was merged with Nushagak Electric Cooperative to become part of the current entity known as Nushagak Cooperative, Inc. To complete the saga of getting the system going, we had made a promise to extend telephone service to the North Shore and to the area that we call the Island. This effort was achieved in August or September of 1976. The contractor that we had utilized to build our outside plant refused to do that part of the job because of what he termed “technical difficulties.” After some head scratching, we came up with a workable plan and buried, three feet below the river bottom, a 50 pair cable to the North Shore; subsequently, we laid a 25 pair cable to the Island. Several of the local folks helped us implement the plan; among them were Pavela Chuckwuk (using his fishing boat, the Lilly Ann), Moses Jacob and Wassillie Chukanuk.  There were others, whose names we cannot recall at this time, who also provided the time and energy to help us do a job that the contractor was afraid to tackle.