Apr 12 2009
Smoke Signals
L’amour doesn’t make mention of smoke signals too often. In High Lonesom he talks about Apaches using them to communicate information about Dave Spanyer and his daughter.
As a child I remember thinking about smoke signals and playing cowboys with my siblings. My parents, of course, never let me build a fire to try to see if by brother and I could develop a smoke signal system that worked.
In the desert smoke would be at least marginally practical. In other areas, however, where the line of site is more restricted, such as forests and valleys they would be impractical at best and completely useless at worst. Other kinds of signals, such as mirrors might be just as effective.
