Phone Lines To Fire Lookouts?

[SpiderLegs]

Over the weekend I camped along a pretty isolated Forest Service Road that only existed to more than likely give access to a fire lookout. Other than that there were no human structures or anyone living within 5 miles of this road. As we hiked along the road we kept noticing a very thin black coated wire sticking out of the ground, sometimes exposed for as much as 3-4 feet. It was no longer intact, just exposed and dangling out in the open. Then 100 yards later another section of it would be exposed.

Did they use to run phone lines to the tops of fire lookouts? That seemed like the only thing I could think of.

[nonot]

Before handheld radios became inexpensive and common, phone lines were the main way the forest service fire lookouts could communicate. Before the phone I think they just had to ride a horse into town and tell people about the fire...

[Nighthiker]

I thing there is an old style candlestick telephone in the Lookout tower exhibit at the Museum in Payson. Maybe I could take a ladder out there climb up and take a look inside.