Re: poles, small trestles out of antonito and antonito vegetation

One day in the mid-70's when I was conductor on the passenger train, a man came up to me and told me he and his wife used to operate the phone system in Chama, many years prior. In fact, they had their switchboard in what was now my house on the north end of Terrace Avenue. He told me that at that time the only phone lines to the outside world were a pair of copper wires piggy-backed on the telephone poles from Chama to Antonito. He recounted how he used to have to snowshoe from Chama to Antonito in the winter to check the lines after a heavy snowstorm.

So I believe the two lines mounted directly on the poles beneath the railroad phone lines were the telephone company's. The copper lines were probably salvaged when the new lines were brought up from the south.

Richard