Three longs and a short

So cool: barbed wire fences as early telephone networks.

"The number is 37."

"Sir, that's not a telephone number."

"It is in Liberty Hill. You'll have to contact an operator in Austin. She'll help you get the call through." Eventually the Dallas operator would contact an Austin operator, who would tell her how to put the call through and I'd get to talk to my parents - with half the town listening in.

Of course, AT&T eventually stormed in and ruined everything.

(Via Boing Boing.)