Fulton, IL c.1908 Train Station, Telegraph Junction Pole

By Joe Maurath, Jr.; posted October 11, 2008
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Western Union and other telegraph companies very often had send/receive offices in train stations. That made a lot of sense because telegraph wires ran along railroad rights-of-way. Wooden terminal boxes mounted atop poles provided connections between the open-wire and enclosed (twisted-pair) cables that ran between the pole and the telegrapher's office....as seen here. This was a very common "dry spot" method of making such connections.

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