  We calculate the electrical conductivity of a thin crystalline strip of atoms
confined within a quasi one dimensional channel of fixed width. The
conductivity shows anomalous behavior as the strip is deformed under tensile
loading. Beyond a critical strain, the solid fails by the nucleation of
alternating bands of solid and {\em smectic} like phases accompanied by a jump
in the conductivity. Since the failure of the strip in this system is known to
be reversible, the onductivity anomaly may have practical use as a sensitive
strain transducer.
