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Old Forest Service Telephone Systems

Introduction

Telephone Switchboard

As long as I've been hiking (for decades) I've been noticing old US Forest Service (occasionally private or other federal, too) relict phone line hardware in trees. They are along fairly straight trails between offices, lookouts, etcetera. Usually, I'll see insulators held up by wire, staples, etcetera, 10' to 20' up one tree after another along a trail. Sometimes, the wire is still strung between trees or is on the ground. If a tree burns, or dies and rots away, the old hardware may bury itself in the forest duff and underbrush. These have not been maintained in decades, so the remains are gradually falling and fading away. I've taken many pictures over the years, and this is my attempt at understanding and documenting the systems.

Equipment Sources
American Bell Telephone Company's basic patents ran out about 1893 - 1894. Kellogg Switchboard and Supply Company was founded in 1897. It supplied telephone hardware to competitors to Bell's near monopoly. The forest service bought much Kellogg equipment, but also gear from wholly Bell owned Western Electric and other companies.

Basic Phone Technology
This was before telephones had dials. Several phones could be hooked to a wire. If you wanted to make a call, you turned a magneto crank, and every phone that was hooked up rang. Hopefully, everyone answered, and you would ask for the person you wanted, and talk. There could be as many as 10-20 phones on a line 50 miles long without too much static. The line might connect offices to lookout towers, private ranches, and portable phones. All these people sharing one circuit is the origin of the term "Party Line." Any or all of the people could listen in or participate in the conversation. No operator or switchboard was required on these simple circuits.

Switchboards and Operators
As the systems expanded, switchboards were used to connect otherwise separate lines together. An operator answered on all of the various lines and connected a wire from the circuit someone called on to the destination circuit requested.
In the photograph, note the seven double bells, one for each circuit, and the paperclip chains hanging from the bells. The bells all sounded the same, so the operator would see which of the chains of paperclips was jiggling and answer that line.

Forest Service Phone History
The US Forest Service was established within the Department of Agriculture on February 1, 1905. These simple, reliable, tough telephone systems were available and mature. To manage and protect remote regions, people needed to report fires and other issues to offices quickly. The USFS began to install and use these systems from its very beginning.

Information Sources
It wasn't too hard to find documents on the internet that were informative on the subject. These sources are listed below. Also, almost any book about life in the early forest service discusses the phones. Since many people were stationed at lonely, remote posts, or patrolled alone for days or weeks, there are fond memories of not just of conversations, but of listening to other people's discussions, or of weekly after hours all hands bull sessions, these being the only socializing the people had.

Jemez Forest Telephone Line
The Jemez report is quite interesting. I've hiked in this area along various CDT routes and have probably seen some of the artifacts discussed. The report is quite general in nature, discussing all sorts of people, events, and effects surrounding the lines.

The Jemez author was able to date some extensions of the line by the split knob insulator type. They come in various shapes, indicating a date range and manufacturer. They started out white, but later they were purchased with a brown glaze, as people used the white insulators as handy targets for shooting practice. There was also a trend from making insulators with round holes to those with oval holes.

The Jemez line originally used hardwood brackets and screw on green glass Hemingray #9 insulators nailed to trees. The brackets broke with tree growth, and the insulators split in freezing weather, so these were replaced by the USFS typical split knob porcelain insulators.

Nearly Round Insulator	More Oval Insulators
Both photos were taken in Oregon in 2018. Over time, the hole in the insulators got more oval, like the right photo. The left insulator has an exceptionally short lead wire; the line probably pulled away from the tree but was nearly straight, even with the short lead. Note the bulge in the left tree: This tree had trouble healing over the staple and tie lead wire. The first, short lead in the right photo may have caused the line to zig zag at too sharp of an angle, or splicing shortened the line, requiring a longer lead. The wire twisting on the second lead is of poor workmanship. Galvanizing zinc is still coating all wires.
Forest Phone Line Insulators

When labor was cheap, in the depression and CCC era, many lines and extensions were built. During and after WWII, there was a tendency to prune the system down to its most essential parts, as labor and money got tighter, and commercial phones and radios took over some functions.

1915 Telephone Construction and Maintenance on the National Forests
Per the 1915 manual, commercial telephone lines were to be used where available. But the need for lines to communicate with remote locations that would not be profitable for a telephone company to build and maintain existed, so many lines were maintained by the forest service.

Many extensions were made to ranches, etcetera, to inform and enlist help from people living in and near the forests. "Miners, settlers, logging foremen, and other persons needed in the fire plan of a Forest may be appointed per diem patrolmen and allowed telephone service free."

Poles were used where there were not trees to hold the wire off the ground. But most poles have long since rotted away. Usually I find insulators and wire attached to live trees.

There were other gauges / diameters of iron wire, and copper might be used on special circuits, but number 9 was the standard communication wire, and is usually what I find in the woods. Smaller wires hold the insulators to the trees. The Galvanizing, or zinc coating, is often long gone and replaced by a layer of rust. Note that 314 pounds per mile is a heavy load. The tools, hardware, and phones were also very heavy. It took tough guys and tougher horses to build and maintain these lines.

Note that there was only one wire running through the trees. These systems completed the circuit using a ground. To hook up a portable telephone, one might toss a rock weighted bare wire over the line through the trees, and connect the other wire to ground by a metal stake driven into wet earth or by putting the wire into a creek. If the wires were rusty, if the water was too pure to conduct electricity well, or if airborne static were present, a better connection might be needed to get a clear signal.

Permanent phones in lookouts and any other buildings would have well bonded connections. But the lines attracted and transmitted lightning strikes, so in thunder storms, the wires were disconnected and thrown out the window.

Limbs and bushes were trimmed 4' away from the lines. Since a trail usually ran right along the line, there was often a wide corridor cut to clear heavily loaded pack horses. The trails were well beaten in and maintained as people checked the line, and travelled its direct course between various forest facilities. Long after the lines were abandoned, the route is still often the best trail around.

The length of the wire attaching the insulator to the tree varied so that the active line was fairly straight.

The staples holding the insulators to the tree were installed so that they would pull out if too many trees fell on the line and stretched out all of the slack. Today, many of the staples are covered with wood and bark that has grown over them.

The insulators are split: The two halves can be placed around an already hanging wire. Another wire, often smaller, both wraps around the split insulator, holding it together, and runs a few inches to a couple of feet to a staple in a tree. The end of the wire at the staple is wrapped loosely enough that if a tree falls on the line and pulls very hard, the wire pulls away from the staple rather than breaking the communication line or pulling the staple out of the tree.

The number 9 communication wire mechanically runs freely through the holes in the insulator, and there is lots of slack, so that each span between insulators hangs down some, while still being well above the undergrowth. If a tree falls on the line, all the slack in several spans runs through the insulators, perhaps pulling the line all the way to the ground, but not breaking it. The line would then be electrically grounded, so someone would have to remove the tree, and redistribute the slack. In a few cases, like long spans, or downhill spans, the communication wire must be held from passing freely through the insulators.

Standard Short Hanger [1938 Manual]

1 Pull is away from tree. 2 Tree too large to climb: necessary to use to keep line in sight of trail. 3 Pin necessary to keep line away from tree. 4 Tree OK. Tie high enough to clear trail. 5 Set pole: impracticable to set pole near trail account of rock; use longer hanger. 6 Tree pin necessary to keep line away from tree. 7 Long hanger to prevent too sharp angle in line. 8 No other trees available nearer trail. 9 Necessary to cross trail. Tie high to give clearance. 10 No trees available - rocky ground. 11 No trees available - rocky ground. Suggestions for Selection of Tree Ties for Line Along a Trail [1938 Manual] Note that the wire would pull into trees 2, 3, and 6. A pin, or a stick that held the wire away from the tree, was used to keep the wire from electrically contacting the tree and shorting to ground. I think I have never seen one, so most of these must have rotted away by now. The Jemez report too states that only one pin / compression configuration was found, among many tie / tension setups. Telephone Tree Hooks, pictured later, could also be configured to push the wire off the tree to prevent electrical shorting. See the 1938 manual for various illustrations.

Assorted Tie Styles The lower two pull apart before breaking.

US Army EE8 Phone This Army Signal Corps telephone was fully compatible with the forest service system, although the army typically connected it with a pair of wires rather than the forest service system with one wire and ground.

This was the standard portable telephone used by the forest service. It weighed 19 pounds, and was 10¼" high by 10" wide by 5" deep. The heavy duty Eastern Birch case was coated with two layers of spar varnish. You turned the crank on the right to ring and pushed the switch on the handle to talk. USFS / Kellogg Type C Portable Phone USFS Kellogg Model C Phone [1938 Manual] USFS / Kellogg Type C Portable Phone

I was lucky to find a snarl of wire in Oregon's Sky Lakes Wilderness in 2018 with these 3 splices. Splice Crimp 9BWG 2 85J GROOVE J Splice Crimp nicu P9BWG2 148JB GROOVE J Western Union Splice Western Union Joint [1938 Manual] Not Less Than 5 Close Wraps Method of Splicing Iron Wire (Western Union Joint) [1915 Manual] No 9 Iron Wire Sleeve Splice In a snarl of wire on the ground - Kaibab Plateau, Grand Canyon. 3 Splices on Copper Wire near The Tipoff, Grand Canyon Copper Wire Crimp Splice Copper Wire to Insulated Crimp Splice Double Tube Copper Sleeve Copper Wire Splice From 1915 Manual: Double tube copper sleeve before using Sleeve after using Twisted 3 to 4 full turns depending on its length Fig. 19 - Method of splicing hard-drawn copper wire. Half length sleeve - 1½ twists. Fig. 15 - Method of dead-ending hard-drawn copper wire. Each lineman on tree lines should be provided with the following equipment: One combination wire and sleeve splicing clamp. This should be of the reversing type, one side being used for McIntyre sleeves and the other for Western Union connection. The standard Western Union joint (fig. 18) or the standard three-wire splice should be used for uniting galvanized-iron wire, and the standard double-tube copper sleeve for hard-drawn copper wire (fig. 19); galvanized-iron sleeves should not be used. Copper sleeves should not be used for splicing galvanized-iron wire, because the resulting corrosion of the latter results ultimately in a high-resistance joint which may become the equivalent, from an electrical standpoint, of several miles of extra line. When copper sleeves are used for joining hard-drawn copper wire, they should be twisted not less than three nor more than four turns with a pair of reversible connectors of the No. 309 type. The ends of the wire should project approximately 1 inch from the end of the sleeve before twisting. After the sleeve is twisted the protruding ends of the wire should be cut off not closer than one-fourth inch and bent back slightly on the sleeve. In ordering the sleeves it is necessary to specify the size of the wire for which the sleeve is required. In making joints every precaution should be taken not to nick the wire, whether galvanized or copper.

Telephones, Pigeons, Mirrors, Airplanes, and Balloons
Dr. H. Barringer Cox, for example, worked out an early ground return line, or single-wire construction, for Region 5's Santa Barbara (now Los Padres) National Forest in southern California. It was a practical and costly, if quieter, double-line metallic circuit. Ground return lines were also developed and used by the armed forces in this era.

Quotes From My Old Journals

This section contains some quotes and photos from my old notes on various hikes. Undoubtedly I have missed a few here, and I have seen but not commented on more artifacts. Many of the quotes refer to these systems as radio or rf systems. After the research I did to write this page, I think these phones were not modulated to radio frequency, but communicated at audio frequencies. I can't remember why I thought they were rf systems in the first place.

From: 2018_PCT_Sierra_City_Ashland.html Northern California
Wednesday, August 22nd, 2018
The first crossing of the Sisson Callahan Trail had a sign and good tread east and west of the PCT. There was also an old wood utility pole on the ground, with some hard steel wire, probably part of the ground loop RF telephone system of old.

From: 2018_PCT_Oregon.html
Friday, August 31st, 2018
North End of Sky Lakes Alternate Route
Along the Snow Lakes Trail I found a snarl of old ground loop telephone wire and took pictures of several splices. The wire was rusted, but it started out as hard galvanized steel wire about 3⁄16" diameter. Later, between Grass Lake an Seven Mile Trail, I took pictures of the old insulators in trees, some brown ceramic and some more common white ceramic. In one dead, barkless tree, I could see the wire had first been 10' off the ground, and later was moved to 15'. The number 5 had been carved in that tree several times. In that tree and some others, the scar caused by the wire could be seen. There also was a more recent diamond blaze with nails, which I eventually guessed was for the short, squat version of the Pacific Crest Trail System diamond blaze, as I continued to see them after the insulators disappeared. After 7 Mile Trail, the PCT treadway was of lower workmanship, so I figure the wire and the Oregon Skyline Trail continued down Seven Mile Creek.

Sunday, September 23rd, 2018
Sometimes You Hit the Jackpot
I hitched into Government Camp expecting nothing more than to buy groceries and head towards Timberline Lodge. But a town visitor center had a great little museum, with displays on skiing, the USFS, and art. The forest service section had several phones that used the type of lines and insulators I've photographed all over the USA. The receptionist was very nice, informative, and helpful. At one point, she asked whether I needed anything else. I said that I knew it was a strange request, but I'd like to go behind the ropes and photograph all the phones, because I still see so many lines in the woods. She said I could, but only if she could stand around and pepper me with questions. The deal was struck. After not too many questions, she suggested that who I really should talk with was the retired USFS guy who would be working starting at 2pm. After just a few more questions, she called him and he said he would walk right over.

He explained all about the phones, and then all about fire finders, lookout towers, and even a little about the CCC.

By 1915, there was a phone line up Mount Hood. Above treeline, 6,000', the number 9 galvanized steel wire just laid on the rocks, and that was sufficient insulation for a ground loop circuit. Sometimes they rolled up the wire for winter to keep wildlife and falling trees from breaking it. Along the line, a portable phone could hook in by tossing a bare wire over the line with a rock, and that contact was good enough for clear communication. They still used this type of phone into the 1980s at Bear Spring. Even later, perhaps even now, these phones connected all the buildings within a forest service compound, office, shops, fire, etcetera. He suggested the manuals might be available on eBay, but wasn't sure if PDFs might be available on the internet. He suggested that US Army Signal Corps manuals for the same devices might be pretty much the same. Manuals might have suggested certain types of splices for certain jobs, but old timers used whatever they had out in the field. A Union Pacific Knot was considered a good splice, but poor skills or insufficient wire forced some dubious knot splices.

A switchboard had chains of paperclips hanging from each bell as a visual indicator of which line was ringing. When I suggested that if the bells were of different diameters, you could hear the difference in the tones, he just rolled his eyes.

Handheld firefinders evolved into larger and larger units until they needed a building to house them, which was the origin of the fire lookout tower. Maps on firefinders weren't enough, so panoramic photos were developed so everyone knew what terrain was being discussed. The photos were in the towers and in every office in communication with the tower. All of this was developed under Osbourne on Mount Hood, and nearby.

The Clearwater Butte Lookout is still staffed today to watch the many campers near Timothy Lake.

He suggested I look for Marten traps, 3" triangular holes in trees, which might look like blazes. Martens, being curious, would stick their hands in and be caught. The traplines might be along old trails, utility lines, etcetera.

Sunday, September 30th, 2018
On the long ridge ascent, I could often see the old telephone insulators in trees, and see the old deep straight up trailbed, now covered in stick litter and replaced with switchbacks.

From: 2017_Mountains_to_Sea_Trail.html North Carolina
Thursday, May 11, 2017
Last night was quite clammy, and in the morning I found the clouds had descended around me. I had breakfast at the Mount Mitchell State Park Restaurant, the fourth viewful and rustic lodge of the trip (Cheaha SP, Tapoco Lodge, Pisgah Inn). The summit of Mount Mitchell, the highest point east of the Mississippi, had a nice tower and museum, annd great views. On descent, an Americorps crew was planning 7 weeks of work on the heavily used and eroded trail. Many thanks!! I found an iron radiotelephone wire with an insulator still in a standing, living tree. In the east, this is rare as most trees have been cut or died and fallen since radiotelephones went out of use. The iron wire had lain in the fork of a laurel long enough for the bark of the bush to have grown a tunnel for the wire to slide around in.

From: 2017_Sierra_Nevada.html California
Wednesday, September 6, 2017

RadioTelephone Insulator South of Cedar Grove
The hook is properly known as a Telephone Tree Hook.

From: 2017_Pinhoti_Trail.html Alabama
Monday, March 20, 2017
I walked north from Trammel Trailhead. There were recent slash and control burns. I found a stand of old catface stumps, sawn above the sap collection scars, and old radio telephone steel wire, but no insulators in trees.

From: 2003_PCT_May.html Southern California
Friday, May 23, 2003
Approaching 3 Points, I saw a single strand of copper wire strung through the trees, and wondered if it was part of an abandoned ground loop rf telephone, which were used in some forests in the WWII era. I camped a half mile past Little Rock Creek Road.

From: 2013_PCT_Mexico_Kennedy_Meadows.html Southern California
Thursday, May 16, 2013
The PCT is closed from Eagles Roost to the Burkhart Trail due to the endangered Mountain Yellow Legged Frog. Therefore I detoured from Islip Saddle northeast on the South Fork Trail, then west on the Punchbowl Trail, then south on the Burkhart Trail. I met no other hikers on the reroute. Perhaps most other PCT hikers continued on the PCT to Eagles Roost, then walked Highway 2 to Buckhorn Campground, regaining the trail there. I saw a Kit Fox Vulpes macrotis on the South Fork Trail, where there were also poles, wires, and insulators from old ground loop radiotelephones.

From: 2014_Sierra_Nevada.html Central California
Saturday, September 13, 2014
We walked west to the South Fork Kern and Tunnel Meadows, exploring old corrals, fences, ranger huts, and weather and snowpack monitoring stations. We then summited Kern Peak, enjoying views of our intended route and the ruins of the lookout tower. There were old ground loop radio telephone lines along most of our route.

Tunnel Meadows Airfield History (36.38°N, 118.26°W)
A ~2000' airstrip was built in 1931. Soon after, then Col Hap Arnold crashed on takeoff probably due to high afternoon temperatures and the 9100' altitude. A pack station / resort often operated at the field through its history. The airfield was in use as late as 1985, but it closed when the wilderness was established. Military pilots still practice approaches (not touching down) to hone their high altitude, mountainous terrain skills. There are unique rocks in historic photos of the the strip, which I think I recognize from my hike. So I'm sure I could find and walk the old runway. Maybe some of the old camps and corrals Jim and I stopped at were part of the operation.
From my memory, Col Hap Arnold called for help on these phones.

Kendrick Mountain Wilderness Pumpkin Trail Telephone System
September 1, 2019
A volunteer working in the Kendrick Mountain Fire Tower said the tower had been built in 1964, and though he had been visiting it for decades, he had never seen or heard of any remnant of the old Forest Service Phone System in the tower. I walked down the ridge line, intermittently north of the Pumpkin Trail. ¼ mile east and west of the old cabin ruins (burnt in the Pumpkin Fire), old #9 iron wire is on the ground, with a couple of Western Union Type Splices, but I saw no crimp sleeves or tree insulator hardware. Smaller diameter iron wire with Western Union splicing is present near the cabin ruins.

I also saw no sign of the old phone system at the Apache Maid Tower yesterday.

From: 2016_AT_Vermont_Maine.html
Tuesday, June 14th, 2016
The Fire Warden Trail had an old garage with a snarl of old ground loop telephone wire, and there were a few old poles supported by large piles of rocks. The bedrock was shallow and often exposed: Therefore holes for the poles would not have worked.

Blackrock Visitor Center, Sequoia NF
USFS Historic Telephones

Blackrock 2 Insulators 2 Types of Insulators, Sloppy Workmanship, Girdles Tree

August 16 - 18, 2019
I photographed the old wire in trees near the Blackrock Station. Across the road from the Visitor Center and a few hundred yards south / downhill, there is typical #9 wire, but then near the station there is probably copper coated iron wire about 5⁄64" diameter. In this smaller wire there are many breaks, so few if any spans still horizontal between trees, and many crimp sleeve splices on extant wire. The workmanship on these lines near the station is poorer than that out in the woods, so I suspect it was retrofit after the age when people really understood these systems, and how to work on them.

Blackrock 3 Insulators East of road. Egg type insulator (upper right) held wire in tension over the road. The split insulators (center and lower left) held the wire only an inch or two from the tree.

Blackrock Brown and White Insulator Halves, 9BWG Iron Wire

Blackrock Insulator, Iron-Copper Wire

Blackrock Splice

Blackrock Splice

West Casa Vieja Cabin Ground Note Fabric and rubber insulated wire. Text PATD probably means patented. Probably part of a phone in the cabin, but possibly installed for a radio or generator supplied power. There is also a plastic tube entering the cabin, suggesting there was once running water.

Casa Vieja Hook There were several of these installed at intervals of several feet along a downed log, suggesting that though these hooks are of a telephone type, they were probably installed for some other reason.

Fuse Relay

Fuse Relay for U. S. Forest Service Fire Phone Line Blackrock-Bald Mountain-Beach-Kernville There are marking on the glass tube, but I was not able to read them. The block is marked 'ground' at left, 'VAC-1.1 N. E. S. Co' in the center, and 'line' for each connection at the right. On display at the Sequoia NF Blackrock Visitor Center

Fuse Relay

	Lightning Arrester U. S. F. S. Lightning Arrester Type C-G 1933 On display at the Sequoia NF Blackrock Visitor Center

Kernville Museum

August 18, 2019
I visited the Kern Valley Museum, Kern River Historical Society. They had an excellent display of old USFS phones and insulators assembled on a wall, as well as other old phones and insulators. A 1916 version of the Sequoia NF map showed the route of the lines, as well as other phone facilities. I have seen similar information on other old USFS maps. A research annex across the street may have more phone system artifacts and documents.

1891 Western Electric Long Wall Type Phone Used in first Single Line Isabella system started by John Danner. #254

Army Surplus EE8 Phone Stenciled Sequoia NF. It makes sense that the EE8 would be preferred by the forest service in the field, as it is lighter by half and more abuse resistant. They probably got a lot of use after WWII when much military equipment was available cheaply as surplus. EE8 Notes EE-8 Field Telephone procurement began in 1937. The local battery telephone used 2 D cells. The talking distance was typically 11 to 17 miles. The dimensions were 9½ x 7¾ x 3½ inches. The weight was about 9.75 pounds including battery. The Ringer was a 90-100 Volt, 20 Hertz hand-cranked ringing generator GN-38. The handset number was TS-9-F. The EE-89 Telephone Repeater could increase the distance between EE-8 field telephones. The manual for the EE-8 phones is TM 11-333.

Army Surplus EE8 Phone

Short Wall Type Phone Over Blackrock Station Phone Black Metal Case

Kellogg Desk Cradle With Hand Set

Cannell Cabin Phone Kellog Desk Cradle with Handset Over Generator and Bell Box

Cannell Cabin Phone Detail Long and Short Ring Sequence to Call Specific Phones Note Helicopters were in use when this list was made.

Western Electric Candlestick Desk Stand Phone

Phone From Edison Borel Forebay	Phone From Edison
The museum had three of these hooked together at various places so visitors could call on them. These phones were used by Southern California Edison at their Hydroelectric Dams, but were probably interoperable with the phones in the Forest Service system.

Rotary Dial Phone Note the newfangled dial. This phone is of later technology than the phone systems featured here.

Switchboard with a Dial Too An intermediate technology, this switchboard allows the operator switched systems I discuss above to be connected to an automated rotary dial switched system, such as the Bell network.

Cleat / Insulator	Cleat / Insulator
Cleats and insulators for pole mounted lines. The US Forest Service avoided poles and used tree mounted lines wherever possible. Many pole lines have rotted away, but I've found just a few.

Insulators and Crossarms Very typical in railroad signalling, telephone company, and power lines, not common for USFS.

Many Types of Insulators

Ceramic Insulator in Oak Tree	Ceramic Insulator in Oak Tree (Marked T)
Ceramic Insulators in Oak Tree
These are not typical of forest service systems. Perhaps they were part of someone's private line. Museum Label: Phone Insulators on Black Oak, Davis Station Area, Greenhorn Mountains

Notes From: United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service Lyle F. Watts, Chief TELEPHONE HANDBOOK April 1947
48. Span Length, Long Spans Spans of 1000 feet or more are both good practice and economical for tree line construction under certain physical conditions and heavier construction is used. The following points are essential determining factors: (a) Use only across canyon or swales where there is sufficient ground clearance to allow for proper sag. See Sag table. (b) For supporting long-span use large trees, rock bluffs, or poles that are strong enough to carry the load that may be placed on the wires during sleet or ice storms. (c) Be sure the line is clear of any overhanging limbs or trees. (d) Use guage and kind of wire specified in long-span construction table page (e) For these long-spans, the strength of supports, dead-ends, fittings and anchorage should be adequate to withstand the maximum tensions that may occur on the line. Long Span Tree Dead End
Telephone Installation - Tower Cab
Single Circuit Entrance - Steel Tower
A telephone line leading to, or along a ridge, is subject to more lightning attraction than is a line located in a valley. Added protection should be given to a line located, especially to span, where they connect to the main line. Gap arresters should be used on the first poles or tie trees on each side of the connection. Where possible spur lines should be disconnected from the main line during periods of non-use. Lightning Protection For Spur Line Ground Circuit (Use same method for metallic circuit)
Long Wall Type (Batteries in Telephone Case) Short Wall Type (Batteries Separate) Generator and Bell Box (Similar to Short Wall Type, Less Hook Switch on Box) May be used with any of the three instruments shown. Portable Telephone Kellogg Model C Mine Type West Test Set (Closed) West Test Set (Open) Telephone Instrument Types
Handwritten: Obtain from Touch Electric Mfg. Co. Portland Oregon Cook - Kellogg B-G (Grounded Circuit) (Insect Proof) Cook - Kellogg B-M (Metallic Circuit) (Insect Proof) Type B Lightning Arresters

Grand Canyon CCC Built Telephone System

Although this Grand Canyon National Park CCC system has very different construction details, it is of the same era and would use similar phones to the USFS systems, making it an interesting comparison.

From: Saturday, March 30, 2019
Grand Canyon National Park
I hiked north down the South Kaibab Trail to The Tipoff, west on the Tonto Trail to Indian Garden, and south up the Bright Angel Trail. There were CCC era pipe telephone poles at The Tipoff and paralleling the Bright Angel Trail. Modern water and electric also generally follow the Bright Angel Trail.

Phone Lines over Bright Angel Canyon To the right, modern and 1930's telephone lines descend Bright Angel Canyon. There is also the park water main and power lines in the canyon. My interest is in the historic phone lines. Here, they are installed in galvanized pipe poles, as there are few suitable trees in the canyon itself. I usually find them strung from trees in long standing forests. From Plaques in Grand Canyon Village In 1934 and 1935, the CCC built 18 miles of copper weld wire phone lines across the canyon on 592 galvanized pipe poles parallel to the Bright Angel and North Kaibab Trails. The line was later maintained by Mountain Bell and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Bright Angel Telephone Pole at Tonto Trail Note 3 Different Insulators and Bend in Lines

Insulator Threads are a Spring

Phone Line at The Tipoff Note later lines attached to crossarms. One circuit versus two above. Attached to emergency phone along trail.

Bright Angel Phone Pole Anchors keep wire from sliding past this pole. May 6, 2019

Bright Angel Phone Pole May 6, 2019

Bright Angel Phone Line Lower Shelter. Feeds an emergency phone with phone booth like reciever. May 6, 2019

Monday, June 3, 2019
Grand Canyon National Park South Rim
I walked down the South Kaibab Trail and continued west on the River Trail, yoyoing across the Bright Angel Bridge for water, and ascending the Bright Angel Trail except that I followed the old CCC phone line route where my map suggested it as an alternative. The old trail was still in pretty good shape, not badly overgrown, and mostly easy to follow and walk. In this very popular area, it was nice to have a little side canyon to myself for a while. Near The Tipoff and on this old route, I took some pictures of splices and insulators on the CCC phone system. This Grand Canyon CCC phone system differs from more typical USFS phones in carrying pairs of copper wires on glass or rubber screw on insulators mounted on galvenized pipe poles, so every aspect of field artifacts is different than the USFS systems. The phones and switchboards may have been identical, though.

Emergency Phone at The Tipoff	Radio Telephone at The Tipoff
Insulated Wires Carry Emergency Phone Signal Old Wire Not Hooked In - The Tipoff

Different Insulators and Arm Lengths Above Versus Below - Is the Top a Later Addition? The hummingbird refused to comment.

Clear Glass Insulator - Bright Angel CCC Phone Line

Green Glass Insulator - Bright Angel

Plastic Insulator with Crazing, Spalling, Oxidation, Weathering - Near Tipoff

Another Grand Canyon Phone System

The following two pictures were taken along the Boundary Line Road, south and west of Grand Canyon Village.

White Thomas Insulators The left insulator is not split and would have to be threaded onto the wire - old. The right, split design can be placed around already strung wire. Kaibab Plateau. I saw no wire or insulators in trees.

Green Glass Insulator Boundary Line Road

I found broken bits of these green glass insulators, which would be used on poles, along the Boundary Road - This is by far the most complete one. Curiously, I also found No 9 wire and broken white ceramic ring type insulator bits along the same road. Maybe poles were used after a severe fire downed the tree lines, or poles were used in immature forests or meadows?

San Elijo 8 Pole Bell System Line

Because I am interested in US Forest Service phone lines from the early 1900s through the post WWII era, I explored this Bell System line of 8 poles, one dating to 1930 and another to 1956. The construction details are quite different, and provide an interesting case for comparison. An old lady walking her dog said she was a long time local, and the line had been there for decades.

Above and below are 5 pictures of the most southwest pole, which I'll number 1. I did not find a date nail on #1. I am most interested in the two copper coated iron wires that run on glass or ceramic insulators, the highest on the various poles. They start here anchored on spool type brown glazed ceramic insulators. The tension is taken on zig zag shaped crimp sleeves, which seems like poor practice. Perhaps the line once went further and was shortened here after skills and parts for this type of phone line were more rare, and perhaps when the housing developments to the south were built. Wire ends seem squashed into spade type connections, but no longer used. Polymer insulated wires are attached with screw splices. A drawn sheet metal box is marked Bell System 83C, and is pocked with bullet or bb dings. Note the copper coated iron wire is spliced with sleeves many places. The Galvanic series says that copper in contact with iron will cause the iron to corrode first. There are also two rubber coated cables carrying perhaps a dozen twisted pairs of small diameter copper wire. In the air, a tension carrying wire is molded with the outer cable casing, but not underground. The splice box is shown below and left. Ends of yellow insulated wires protrude, I estimate 22AWG solid copper. A similar splice box is on pole 5; perhaps there are more. Older, perhaps abandoned wires or cables are present along the pole above this box.

Two views of poles 2, 3, and 4, left to right. I did not beat through the brush to examine these poles close up, but they seem similat to 5 and 6, which were much closer to the trail. Note the excessive sag of one wire due to the missing insulator.

Pole 5 Note 4 crimp barrels on the upper wire and none on the lower. Perhaps the upper wire is older or of lower quality. Or perhaps someone installing the upper wire nicked it in many places, giving galvanic corrosion a head start. Note two types of insulators, and different wrapping styles. Note insulator cleat pulling away from pole. The pole date nail indicates 1954. The wire is bent. Perhaps it was on the ground and someone bent it repeatedly to break it and get it out of the way. Note the iron and copper wire oxidation colors.

Pole 6 1930 date nail, and another nail I can't read. 3 splice crimp sleeves.

Poles 7, 8, Left to Right

Other Telco? Lines

From: 2017_Mid_State_Trail.html Pennsylvania
Tuesday, June 20, 2017

Insulator

Insulator

From: 2016_GDMBR_Colorado.html
Thursday, September 8, 2016
On this surprisingly wildlife free day, I saw one Bluebird, one Magpie, a couple of nondescript little brown birds, a couple of ground squirrels, and cattle. An old telephone line on peeled but not lathe cut poles and with insulators screwed to wooden brackets was clearly abandoned, with poles down and insulators taken, but was fairly recently hooked to a reasonably modern telephone junction box. In some places, the poles were not held up in augured holes but by rock filled baskets made of sawed poles with insulator brackets.

Old Telephone Pole and Insulator Screw Mount

Steel Insulator Mount

From: Tuesday, April 16, 2019
Petrified Forest National Park
Old US66 crosses the park just north of I40. The bentonite clay soil in the area does not permanently compact, so the roadbed was soft and supporting plant life as well as the surrounding desert. The roadbed berm, litter, and an old telephone line still mark its path, though. The telephone wires were gone, but most of the poles were standing.
Miles: 6 15

US66 Telephone Pole Line I saw these old style telco voice frequency unmodulated unmultiplexed pole lines in three places on this trip.

Telephone Insulators

Pole Eroded Around Aluminum Numbers

Communications Cable and Bits of Lead and Steel Lining

From: 2016_Tuscarora.html

Old Railroad Signal Wires - C&O Canal

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