"GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. -- In 1891, a search party found the body of Robert Hamilton floating in the Snake River and lit a fire atop Signal Mountain to alert others in Jackson Hole.

Today, the mountaintop is sending out new signals -- cellphone service -- across the sage- and pine-covered valley. A 50-foot-tall cell tower stands sentinel over the Signal Mountain picnic area and overlook, keeping visitors connected as they gaze at the snow-covered Teton Range and Grand Teton National Park's pronghorns, elk and grizzlies.

Whether to expand beyond Grand Teton's sole cell tower, operated by Union Telephone Co., is part of a major debate within the National Park Service over the promise and peril of allowing technology in America's most hallowed landscapes."

Phil Taylor reports for Greenwire July 5, 2016. [2]