Recently my wife Pat and I visited our daughter, Tammy, and her husband, Steve, and grandchildren in Barstow California. Barstow is not unfamiliar to us as we spent nine years there raising our children while I worked at the Goldstone Tracking Facility, where Steve now works. We hadn't been there for some time and were looking forward to seeing the old town.

During the visit, oddly enough, the conversation turned to insulators. I was talking about some of the ones that we bought at the Canyonville and Tulare Shows, along with some "insulator stories" and a copy of the Crown Jewels of the Wire Magazine. I pointed to a picture of Mid Norris at his recent Insulator Swap Meet and his corral decorated with insulators when my daughter blurted out "I've seen something like that around here". Now that really got my attention. But upon questioning she couldn't remember where. It was very hard to let that go but I finally did.

A couple of days later we decided to visit some antique and thrift shops in Victorville and to drive out old Highway 66 so we could see what was along the railroad line. We had been down that road many times in the past, but I wasn't collecting insulators then. Too bad. After stopping several times to view the thousands of insulators still setting atop those 4 cross arm poles, we were sailing down the highway when suddenly my daughter shouted, "There it is, there it is." I screeched to halt on the shoulder of the road and backed up until I was in front of a gate. Without a doubt "there it was". It was a forest of steel trees adorned with bottles and topped with odd objects. It covered several acres and was hard to believe.

As we looked on I realized there was a man inside the gate beckoning us to come in. We got out of the car and he opened the gate. He introduced himself as Elmer Long and said that this was all his, all his art. I gazed around at the 15 foot tall poles with steel spikes and every shape and color of bottle. There were dozens of them and each had some antique object on top. He proudly pointed out a large milk can, an Underwood typewriter, a hand pump, a tricycle, a tractor seat and even a 1949 Lionel train. (That was the year I got my first Lionel).

And then I saw it, it was another metal tree but this one was adorned with none other than glass insulators. 10 to 20 of them. The spikes they were resting on were old railroad spikes. It was not the only Insulator Tree, but one of several. There was no rare colored or exotic shaped insulators, but there were lots of them.

INSULATOR TREES...

Elmer said he started his forest about four years ago, and once he got started he couldn't stop. He said he worked at it nearly every day trying to create a new look as he went along. He also told me about his secret stashes of bottles, antiques and insulators sprinkled around the West. (Unfortunately, he did not tell me where they were.)

He also told me about how he got many of the insulators. It seems that the contractor who took down some of the telegraph lines that run right along his property, was supposed to haul it all off. But he apparently" forgot" some of it in the gullies, culverts or under creosote bushes. So now he just goes out now and then and picks up a few to add to the pile that he has in a nearby shed.

Elmer says he's really happy creating his art and we believe him. As we walked around I noticed a lot of insulators, cross arm's and hardware on the ground and in piles. I asked if he would sell any of it. He said no but if I wanted anything I could have it. As I looked around at a lot of common glass he pointed out a large white porcelain insulator and said, "You can have that one if you want, I don't have any plans for it." As he picked it up and handed it to me, I immediately saw the Imperial Porcelain Works crown and mumbled, "Oh, are you sure?". He gave us a nice tour of his artful creations. Brimming with pride, he said to come back anytime, that he figured he would be at it for a while.

So if you're ever headed down Interstate 15 sometime, take a detour down old Highway 66 between Barstow and Victorville. Elmer's "Helendale Bottle Trees" are located just a few miles north of Victorville. It's right on the highway and you can't miss it.

(P.S. There is also a big antique shop nearby where I picked up additions to our collection, including a nice Chicago Diamond Goove CD 135).