It has been with a great sense of nostalgia and regret that I've watched our open-wire lines coming down all over the country. 

Since soon after World War II the Bell companies have been on a vigorous program of replacing these early lines with more modern and efficient telecommunication systems. The independent telephone companies were at that same time in the throes of consolidations and mergers. Thus, for the most part, they were unable to effect the upgrading until more recent times.

The railroads were last to modernize, but are now progressing rapidly towards that point where nearly all their telegraph, private line and signal circuits will be handled by radio in one form or another.

As a result we see fewer miles of wire and fewer insulators, which does nothing to cheer us hunters of those "Crown Jewels".

In the light of the above situation we have set out to find and record on film as many examples of the remaining lines as possible. Lynn and I just completed a seven thousand mile trip back and forth through twenty-three states and part of Canada. We photographed about one hundred different situations ranging from one wire farmer lines to seven arm leads.

This is the third trip in the past five years, so we are in a pretty good position to summarize the open-wire situation. That summation might be best expressed in one sentence. If you plan to do any more hunting, you had better hurry.

From our experiences I would estimate your best bet for finding a collectable or two would be in southern Illinois, Missouri and the eastern areas of Colorado.

From our records we know that Illinois and Missouri, as did many states, had hundreds of farmer line associations and independently owned telephone companies. Therefore it's reasonable to assume there are still many abandoned insulators on side brackets in trees, fence posts, etc. We found numerous examples of this, and, except for one case, left everything just as we found it.

Don't overlook big cities either. We spotted collectables in Brooklyn, N.Y. (a copper top), Niagara Falls, Canada, and St. Louis, Mo., to name but a few. These are found on fire alarm circuits, low and high voltage power lines, and on the walls of homes and factories.

The only insulator we brought home came to us under strange circumstances. While driving along a barbed wire fence I found an AT&T toll glass sitting on top of a fence post. Here in mid-state Ohio we had located the remnants of a one wire farmer line attached to the posts on side brackets. All the glass was gone except for the mint CD 121 standing unattached on top of the post. It was clean as a pin on the outside and filled with dirt inside. One can't help but wonder how it got there and, more, how it stayed until we came along.

Now, if you are still awake at this point, I want to ask you photo bugs to help us in collecting pictures of open-wire lines. Any shots will be greatly appreciated, and especially slides, as we plan to use them in future programs at show, etc.

In conclusion, I'd like to thank all those telephone, railroad and power company employees that were so generous with advice and other information. And to the Iowa farmer who emptied his double-barreled twelve gauge at me while I ran through his winter wheat, a great big, "Ya, Ya, You missed me." 

Come see us, Friends.