Phone Service Of The Past Still Available In A Vast Canyon

Big Santa Anita Canyon in the San Gabriel Mountains of California is an enormous wilderness with over 40 miles of trails running through it

. A few cabins litter the area, and one main road built in the 1930s cuts through it. Like many natural expanses, strange and unique features can be found, things that cannot be easily encountered in the developed suburbs or cities. One such example that you can find in the wilderness of the Big Santa Anita Canyon is an outmoded form of home phone service: the party line.

A party line was once the most common type of residential phone service, extremely popular around World War II, and it persisted throughout the 20th century. Far from the powerfully individualized personal mobile phones of today (with one or more phones to a single person), the party line provided a single phone service to numerous families using only one line. That is, the family in one house and the family in another nearby would share the same phone service. When the phone rang in one home, it would ring in the other as well. When one person talked on the phone, someone from another family could pick up and listen in. This was a staple of community life in America at one time.

To offset the frustration incurred by phones ringing with all the calls for two families, a system of differentiated rings was developed. In order to convey which household a call was intended for, the phones would ring in both houses but with different patterns. One pattern for one family, another for the other. This at least would allow a modicum of individuality to the home phone service.

With advances in technology, the party line system of home phone service went out of vogue. Today, far more complex systems are available, offering a wide array of nuanced services. The Internet phone, for example, has brought the industry into a whole new era. Rapid developments seem to happen daily.

In Big Santa Anita Canyon, however, these developments have not encroached upon the land.

Phone service in the canyon is still operated by a hand powered magneto-crank. When a call is made, a total of 81 cabins, a group area and Pack Station all ring at once. Coded rings detail who should answer, but anyone can listen in on or join the call.

So, if you want to see a unique feature of the American environment left untouched by the growth of suburban sprawl and advancements in technology, take a hike into the vast wilderness of the San Gabriel Mountains. You just might find that rare specimen, the party line phone service.

by: Mark Etinger

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