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mordechai9000today at 4:27 PM0 repliesview on HN

I'm a little skeptical that any actual wiring from this project is still in use to this day. Conditions are hard on this kind of infrastructure. Alaska has been pushing to modernize telecom infrastructure heavily for the last two decades, and now LEO, GEO, microwave, and fiber are delivering services to pretty much everywhere. On the other hand, I've seen a free public telephone in the middle of a village that has dial-tone, presumably even in the middle of winter at temperatures past -40. I can absolutely believe that if there is a pair of wires that get the job done, they could still be in use for something like that.

20 years ago I stumbled across an abandoned telegraph line that was used to connect Seward to Anchorage. There were poles with intact glass insulators in some places. It wasn't far off the highway, and I encountered someone else at the time who told me it was an unofficial trail used by locals. So I wouldn't be surprised if someone took the insulators for whatever reason in the meantime.