Finding Dark Fiber in a Desert Ghost Town

Lots of fiber-optic cable in the United States runs along right-of-way routes for highways and railroads because it offers telecommunication companies a straight-shot easement over a really long distance. Apparently, this method is as popular on defunct rail routes as it is on active ones, a lesson I learned while driving in north Utah along the original route of the transcontinental railroad, near Lucin. Driving down a dirt road toward the old railroad grade, I passed old AT&T buried fiber signage. I was about five miles outside of the absolute middle of nowhere, so seeing a post for buried fiber-optic cable seemed a little weird. Following the arrow on the sign took me to another post, and a manhole.