View this email in your browser · Missed one? Visit the Archives

I really like this subject line/title. Even though I never read the book (which is apparently very long). -- Dan

A Tree* Grows* in Brooklyn*

Chester Township, New Jersey, is a municipality in the northern part of the state, home to about 7,500 people. It's about an hour and a half's drive west of Brooklyn, New York (here's a map), but unlike Brooklyn, it is hardly an urban area -- as the township's Wikipedia entry states, it "has large amounts of land that is either not developed or used for farming, with many Victorian style homes and large lots." Or, in other words, a lot of trees grow there.

And so do these (via NJ.com):

Those aren't trees -- at least, not anymore. And they aren't growing; quite the opposite. What you see above are rows and rows of telephone poles -- or, rather, potential telephone poles. Welcome to what is colloquially known as the Telephone Pole Farm.

Telephone poles and, for that matter, utility poles, don't do a lot. Their role in our infrastructure is to stand there, holding up the wires that carry our conversations from person to person. When they do that job, we generally take them for granted, but when we fail, core parts of our daily lives come to a halt. And that's not just a headache for use at home -- it's also a headache for telephone companies.

In 1928, Bell Telephone Laboratories -- a precursor to AT&T -- needed to better understand how telephone poles work, or more accurately, how they fail. Telephone poles are just logs from old trees, and like anything else, they're decaying. Bell didn't know which types of wood would decay the slowest, how to treat trees to minimize decay, etc. So the company decided to plant some dead trees and find out. The company acquired 100 acres of farmland -- selected, per the Chester Historical Society (pdf), because the area "provides many types of topography and harsh weather such as blazing sunshine, high winds, driving rain, sleet, and icing" -- to learn how each of the wood choices would stand up in various conditions. The poles are placed two feet into the ground and, as seen in the Google Maps satellite view below (via here), are evenly spaced, bespeckling the landscape.

Each tree was also tagged with a metal plate adorned with a unique identifying number, as seen here. According to the Chester Historical Society, engineers "revisited [the trees] annually to record their condition and note damage," and at times, "cores were taken or entire poles [were] removed to determine the condition of the interior of the posts." That information was shared with crews to maintain its infrastructure for decades.

Today, the telephone pole farm still exists -- but it isn't used by Bell or AT&T. The data the company gathered over the decades was enough to help them determine strong practices for telephone pole selection, and the need for the farm diminished. The township bought the farm and the surrounding areas in 2004 for $6 million and renamed it Highlands Ridge Park, which is now open to the public.

Noom is helping people to change their relationship with food. Their psychology-based approach helps you make behavioral changes to understand why you make the choices you do, so you can start making healthier one -- and they’ll make sure you aren’t miserable while you’re doing it. Their tracking tools are designed to ensure you hit your goals at a pace that’s comfortable for you.

Join thousands of regular people who are creating sustainable, healthy routines. Achieve your health goals in a sustainable and enjoyable way -- today.

Get started !

Sponsored

Bonus fact: The most significant contributor to utility pole degradation isn't usually the weather -- it's the birds. According to Bird News, "woodpecker damage to wood poles is the most significant cause of pole deterioration in the United States," with woodpeckers causing millions of dollars of damage each year. And yes, there are woodpeckers in northern New Jersey, so Bell Labs probably accounted for that in their research.

From the Archives: Barbed Bells: How barbed wire fences doubled as telephone poles, kind of.

Like today's Now I Know? Share it with a friend -- just forward this email along.

And if someone forwarded this to you, consider signing up! Just click here.

Share

Forward

Archives · Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2023 Now I Know LLC, All rights reserved.
You opted in, at http://NowIKnow.com via a contest, giveaway, or the like -- or you wouldn't get this email.

Now I Know is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Some images above via Wikipedia.

Now I Know's mailing address is:

Now I Know LLC

P.O. Box 536

Mt. Kisco, NY 10549-9998

Add us to your address book

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your email address or unsubscribe from this list

Now I Know - Now I Know: A Tree* Grows* in Brooklyn*

A Tree* Grows* in Brooklyn*

Older messages

Now I Know: This Traffic Light is Out of Order. But Don't Worry: It's Working Fine.

Now I Know: The Invisible Eyelash Bugs That Can Trace Family Histories

Now I Know: When Every Day is a Bad Hair Day

[Now I Know Offers] Experience the World for Less with Travelzoo

Now I Know: The Language Designed to Protect the Nuts

You Might Also Like

SEO is Not Dead: The Power of Free Tools

KU & Paperback • The Story Weaver by Sally Zigmond • A colourful mix of beautifully crafted stories

My Scurvy Mistake

🎤 The SWIPES Email (Friday, November 15th, 2024)

Swing for This PR Technique

🧙‍♂️ 3 reasons I wrote Sponsor Magnet

The Historic Connection Between TV Dinners and Diarrhea?

Navigating Private Equity ownership. @ Irrational Exuberance

Black November - Double Discount💥

● Open Now: Cyber Monday Newsletter Book Promo for Authors ●