Fiber optic line to Black Butte

A vibrating plow used to lay conduit in the ground.

Crews working for Qwest are laying fiber optic cable between Sisters and Black Butte along Highway 20.

Eventually, the new cable will be used to upgrade service between the ranch and the rest of the world. New options will include digital subscriber lines and improved broadband.

Qwest has 3,393 accounts out of the Sisters call center, and 1,744 out of the Black Butte call center, according Erin Dunn, Director of Public Relations for Qwest.

Camp Sherman will not have the new services because of the distance between homes in that community and the Black Butte central office that handles their calls.

The fiber optic line, which will cost a little under $1 million, is being paid for by the telephone company. A six-man crew from Van Dorn Enterprises out of Stayton and Pendleton is actually laying the cable at the rate of about one mile per day.

Most of the distance is being covered by a vibrating plow that feeds the "Plow con" or conduit directly into the ground. In some areas, to meet terrain or regulatory requirements, a backhoe is being used instead to trench and lay the pipe.

Construction should be complete by the middle of October. After the conduit is in the ground, optical fiber will be pulled through and spliced, according to Bill Burgess of Qwest.Then the cable will be connected to equipment already installed at Black Butte and Sisters, and they will "turn on the light."

According to Dunn, the fiber optic cable is a spur off of the main fiber optic "backbone" from Portland to Gilchrist.

Eventually, the "backbone" will become a "ring," from Portland through Central Oregon to Gilchrist, then through Oak Ridge to Eugene and back to Portland.