Object Record
Images
Metadata
Title |
USFS Portable Field Telephone |
Object Name |
Telephone, Field |
Catalog Number |
2000.019.002 |
Description |
USFS Portable Field Telephone ca 1920 Hand set phone, inside box - wood box with leather strap, metal closure and hinges. Made by Kellogg Swichboard and Supply Company, Chicago, Illinois The official name, on the outside of its wooden box is "USFS Portable Telephone Model C No. ". It was manufactured by Kellogg Switchboard & Supply Co., Chicago, U.S.A. It weighs about 20 pounds when powered by the big old telephone batteries of its age. This phone was too heavy to be carried by a backpacker, so was used mostly where horse or mule transportation was available. Packers could use them for emergency contact to the Ranger Station if they were along the telephone line. The same could be true for large trail crews or other work crews where they had access to a phone line. One particular use was for the early day lookouts, without a building to shelter a regular phone. They could hang this phone on a tree (perhaps the base of the tree they used for a tower) and use it to report fires and otherwise contact the Ranger Station. To use this phone, one had to be able to reach the Number 9 wire. Packers could use a rope to pull the line down if it was not within reach. The user had to have a length of wire to attach securely to the main telephone wire and then to the terminal on the phone. Then he needed another length of wire to attach to the other terminal on the phone, which was then attached to the ground. People often carried a large spike with the phone to drive in the ground for good ground contact. Then sometime had to pour precious water around the spike to ensure the grounded circuit. Can you imagine packing this "thing" very far over your shoulder along with all the other necessities one had to carry? I don't believe this was done, except in some emergency. This phone was provided by Kelly Allen, wife of deceased Ed Allen. who spent his career in Region 6, on the Mt. Hood, Okanogan, Siuslaw, Wallowa-Whitman National Forests, and at Curlew JCCC on the Colville NF. I do not know where he got this one. Photographed |
Date |
1920 ca |
Year Range from |
1910 |
Year Range to |
1930 |
Dimensions |
H-12.5 W-10 D-5 inches |
Material |
Wood/metal/leather |
People |
Allen, Ed |
Subjects |
Field Telephone |
Search Terms |
Communication |
Collection |
Jones, Wendall L. |