Carter Lake

The community of Carter Lake, Iowa is a geographic oddity as well as a telecommunications oddity.

Carter Lake, an incorporated village, lies physically on the Nebraska side of the Missouri River, but remained politically in Iowa when a flood, ca. 1880s, caused the river to shift.

Carter Lake has an Iowa Zip Code, residents vote in Iowa elections, and students attend Iowa public schools. Carter Lake is in Iowa, except for one telecom-related quirk.

In the subscriber dial era, Carter Lake has always been served from Omaha's Douglas Street office, and has always been toll-free to and from Omaha. Carter Lake's original dial prefix name was LAke, and those who are observant can easily see that this is simply a renamed JAckson, which was the second Panel office out of Douglas.

For some unknown reason, at a date I'm unable to precisely determine, Carter Lake subscribers were moved from the LAke prefix to the 'new' YEllowstone prefix. YEllowstone was implemented sometime prior to our 1953 beginning of the epoch. Again, those who have been paying attention will notice that YEllowstone is simply a renaming of WEbster, rinse, repeat.

At the date of the Great Renumbering in 1960, Carter Lake was spun off to its own distinct prefix, 347, in anticipation of Direct Distance Dialing.

Carter Lake, politically in Iowa, was within area code 712 and was dialable as such. However, anecdotal evidence persists that at one time the 347 prefix was dialable from outside the area as either 402-347 or 712-347.

Carter Lake has always received the short end of the stick as far as local calling area is concerned. Carter Lake's toll-free dialing options into nearby rural Iowa communities have always been fewer than those from Council Bluffs or Omaha proper.

An interesting quirk of the 347 office, noted by many phone 'enthusiasts', was that the 5000 and 9000 levels were interchangeable. You could dial any 347-5xxx or 347-9xxx number using either 5 or 9. Yes, this facilitated some game-playing with 'check for coin' procedures. :)

Toll-free seven-digit dialing remains between Omaha and Carter Lake to this day, with Carter Lake still being served out of the Douglas office.