Return of the 1966 Estes Park Telephone Book

How do you uncover something that doesn't exist?

You know what I'm going to ask

If you waited until today to catch the action all of your neighbors have been talking about, you're in luck, because we're going to cut through all the listings and get to the good stuff, meaning the apparent "overuse" of some telephone numbers (based on counts of exact listings), and the underuse or outright avoidance of others.

If you need a refresher, just check the previous two entries.  I'm not going to spend any time re-explaining how 112 entries in a 100-number block is possible only because the phone book allows for "cross-branding", where the same telephone number can be cross-listed any number of times under different headings.  Often this means the telephone is being shared by a business and the individual running that business, which is quite helpful in matching up long-dead owners with their long-dead businesses.

Where there are two or more (seemingly) unrelated individuals (and no businesses) sharing the same telephone and telephone number, I can imagine two possibilities:
(1) Two or more families, related or unrelated by blood, went together to build a cottage or cabin and were "time-sharing".  This was certainly the case with my grandparents and their friends back in the 1940s, and the convention at the time would have been to list the male head of each family, so that it could appear, but was unlikely, that they were:
(2) Two or more individuals, related or unrelated by blood, living together.  Before leaping to the conclusion that the phone book was revealing illicit (at the time) co-habitation, it is more likely that two females with different surnames sharing the same phone at the same address were likely (widowed) sisters, rather than lesbians.  Similarly for a male and a female whose relationship was inapparent on the surface - Potentially it was a husband and wife where the wife was so prominent, she kept her own maiden name (although I don't think this applies to any of the Estes Park cross-entries).  I doubt very much, given the prevailing atmosphere in the 1960s, if homosexual or trans-individuals decided to get their relationship/status out in the open via the Estes Park telephone book.  But I am know allowing space for rampant speculation and rumor-mongering...

The more interesting result of this exercise is the apparent "number avoidance" practiced in the 1960s, which is quickly revealed by computer analysis.  I have no idea (all of the data from the 586-3XXX numbers is broken down below, if the weekend box-office warrants, I will post the similar 586-4XXX results next week) why Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph avoided assigning any number ending in 99 in 1966.  Dialing a blah-blah-blah-99 number on a rotary telephone wasn't slow-boating anyone anymore than dialing a blah-blah-blah-00 number, yet 00 numbers were always assigned, whereas 99 numbers never were, at least as revealed by the 1966 Estes Park telephone book (the 2016 telephone book doesn't treat these 99 numbers as quite so radioactive, which makes their avoidance in 1966 doubly strange, unless it can be explained by some technologically unavoidable electronic "bug" in the wiring or some physical mechanical/engineering problem that was better to jump over rather than deal with at the time, a problem that eventually got ironed out).

The other unused numbers don't show any particular pattern, although there is one "number cluster" similar to what has already been pointed out for the Stanley Hotel and its "official" published 586-3371 number coupled with its desire (still in practice) to "number hog" any misdialed numbers around it, all of which obviously went (and still go) unpublished.

The 70 out of 1000 potential numbers in the 586-3XXX block that don't appear in the 1966 phone book were either (1) unassigned/avoided or (2) assigned but unpublished.  One way to attempt to quickly assign probabilities to each number as far as which was which is to compare avoided numbers in the 1966 phone book with published "caller ID" portions of any other phone book, for example, the 2016 phone book.  Because more and more people were already moving away from land lines by 2016, who knows if the "no numbers" not appearing in both phone books were just coincidence, or numbers that were avoided for a particular reason (like permanently retired jerseys, except without a formal announcement they were being retired) or, and here's where it gets interesting, NUMBERS THAT HAVE ALWAYS BEEN ASSIGNED YET HAVE ALWAYS REMAINED UNPUBLISHED.  The "for your eyes only" Estes Park secret telephone numbers, patching you through to the list, updated daily, of addresses for orgies, or safe houses, or the ways local government officials can fly first class and stay in 5-diamond hotels all at taxpayer expense.

To that end, there is no crime against purposefully dialing wrong numbers, unless you state somewhere in the conversation that you purposefully misdialed them.  So I'm not daring anyone to dial these 27 "Top Secret" Estes Park phone numbers that were seemingly scraped clean from the earth and report back with answers, but you don't enter the dark web/deep state until you take that first step, and make the conscious decision to start looking for it.

Results posted below, initially spelled out, then condensed once I figure you've got the hang of things, and don't need further spoon-feeding.

586-30XX – 109 total matches, 93/100 potential numbers appear in 1966 telephone book, 5/7 numbers “remain” unassigned in 2016 telephone book

3000 – 1 match

3001 – 1 match

3002 – 1 match

3003 – 1 match

3004 – 1 match

3005 – 1 match

3006 – 1 match

3007 – 1 match

3008 – 1 match

3009 – 1 match

3010 – 1 match

3011 – 1 match

3012 – 1 match

3013 – 1 match

3014 – 1 match

3015 – 1 match

3016 – 1 match

3017 – 1 match

3018 – 1 match

3019 – 1 match

3020 – No matches

3021 – No matches

3022 – No matches

3023 – 1 match

3024 – No matches

3025 – No matches

3026 – 2 matches – Butch Clifton, Helen Keutzer

3027 – 2 matches – Cedarmont Motor Lodge, Kenneth Guthrie

3028 – 1 match

3029 – 2 matches – Rev. Fred Lawson, Covenant Heights

3030 – 1 match

3031 – 1 match

3032 – 1 match

3033 – 2 matches – Colorado Fish Hatchery, James T. Morgan

3034 – 1 match

3035 – 1 match

3036 – 1 match

3037 – 1 match

3038 – 1 match

3039 – 1 match

3040 – 1 match

3041 – 1 match

3042 – 1 match

3043 – 1 match

3044 – 1 match

3045 – 1 match

3046 – 1 match

3047 – 2 matches – Barbara Davis, Josephine Newberry

3048 – 2 matches – Hiawatha Cottages, R. McKague

3049 – 1 match

3050 – 1 match

3051 – 1 match

3052 – 1 match

3053 – 1 match

3054 – 1 match

3055 – 1 match

3056 – 1 match

3057 – 2 matches – Cedarmont Restaurant, Ben Feddersen

3058 – 1 match

3059 – 2 matches – Joseph T. Nance, Harold Weiss

3060 – 3 matches – J.E. Ahif, Don H. Alldritt, L.D. Banta

3061 – 1 match

3062 – 1 match

3063 – 1 match

3064 – No matches (number assigned in 2016 telephone book)

3065 – 1 match

3066 – 1 match

3067 – 1 match

3068 – 1 match

3069 – 1 match

3070 – 1 match

3071 – 1 match

3072 – 2 matches – O.L. Dever, Meeker Park Lodge

3073 – 2 matches – Mrs. David Gross, Martha Phillips

3074 – 1 match

3075 – 1 match

3076 – 1 match

3077 – 1 match

3078 – 1 match

3079 – 1 match

3080 – 1 match

3081 – 1 match

3082 – 1 match

3083 – 2 matches – Ivan C. Fray, Raymond C. Fray

3084 – 3 matches – L.L. Keever, Loveland Heights Court, Alberta Rutledge

3085 – 1 match

3086 – 1 match

3087 – 1 match

3088 – 1 match

3089 – 1 match

3090 – 2 matches – Gerald Bruce Cox, Gary Junker

3091 – 1 match

3092 – 1 match

3093 – 1 match

3094 – 1 match

3095 – 1 match

3096 – 1 match

3097 – 1 match

3098 – 1 match

3099 – No matches (number assigned in 2016 telephone book)

586-31XX 115 total matches, 96/100 potential numbers appear in 1966 telephone book, 0/4 numbers “remain” unassigned in 2016 telephone book

3111 – No matches (number assigned in 2016 telephone book)

3131 – No matches (number assigned in 2016 telephone book)

3138 – No matches (number assigned in 2016 telephone book)

3199 – No matches (number assigned in 2016 telephone book)

586-32XX 112 total matches, 91/100 potential numbers appear in 1966 telephone book, 5/9 numbers “remain” unassigned in 2016 telephone book

3202 – No matches (number assigned in 2016 telephone book)

3222 – No matches

3224 – No matches (number assigned in 2016 telephone book)
3228 – No matches (number assigned in 2016 telephone book)

3234 – No matches

3240 – No matches

3260 – No matches

3298 – No matches (number assigned in 2016 telephone book)

3299 – No matches

586-33XX 63 total matches, 44/100 potential numbers appear in 1966 telephone book, 43/56 numbers “remain” unassigned in 2016 telephone book

3300, 3302, 3306, 3310, 3312, 3314, 3315, 3317, 3319, 3324, 3327, 3328, 3330, 3332, 3333, 3337, 3338, 3339, 3340, 3342, 3343, 3344, 3345, 3346, 3347, 3348, 3349, 3350, 3352, 3354, 3357, 3359, 3360, 3362, 3367, 3369, 3372, 3373, 3374, 3375, 3376, 3377, 3378, 3381, 3383, 3387, 3388, 3389, 3390, 3391, 3392, 3393, 3394, 3396, 3398, 3399

586-34XX 124 total matches, 92/100 potential numbers appear in 1966 telephone book, 4/8 numbers “remain” unassigned in 2016 telephone book

3403, 3404, 3420, 3422, 3433, 3471, 3483, 3499

586-35XX 111 total matches, 92/100 potential numbers appear in 1966 telephone book, 3/8 numbers “remain” unassigned in 2016 telephone book

3507, 3517, 3534, 3541, 3591, 3593, 3595, 3599

586-36XX 112 total matches, 91/100 potential numbers appear in 1966 telephone book, 4/9 numbers “remain” unassigned in 2016 telephone book

3603, 3614, 3629, 3634, 3648, 3657, 3660, 3676, 3699

586-37XX 110 total matches, 97/100 potential numbers appear in 1966 telephone book, 1/3 numbers “remain” unassigned in 2016 telephone book

3729, 3748, 3799

586-38XX 107 total matches, 94/100 potential numbers appear in 1966 telephone book, 2/6 numbers “remain” unassigned in 2016 telephone book

3810, 3816, 3833, 3857, 3866, 3899

586-39XX 105 total matches, 96/100 potential numbers appear in 1966 telephone book, 1/4 numbers “remain” unassigned in 2016 telephone book

3901, 3932, 3959, 3999

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Ignoring 586-33XX numbers for the moment, 27 of 900 numbers in the 586-3XXX range were “unassigned/unlisted” in 1966, and were also “unassigned/unlisted” in 2016

These 27 numbers are:

586-3020                  586-3591

586-3021                  586-3595

586-3022                  586-3599

586-3024                  586-3614

586-3025                  586-3629

586-3222                  586-3634

586-3234                  586-3699

586-3240                  586-3799

586-3260                  586-3816

586-3299                  586-3857

586-3403                  586-3901

586-3404                  586-3932

586-3433                  586-3959

586-3471

Including the 586-33XX numbers brings the total to 70 (of 1000 potential maximum) 586-3XXX numbers “unlisted/unassigned” in both telephone books