Like many of my other vintage photographs, these images will give you prospectors some idea what the pole lines along roads and RR tracks once looked like. And they will give you a clue regarding the types of pole line construction, which side of the track (or road) such lines ran along and maybe the types of insulators once used.

Always keep in mind that during early pole or line upgrades that the old poles and often the retired iron wire was left along the right-of-way in the woods. Area villagers wanting the discarded poles for fencing or firewood either tossed any attached insulators beforehand. Or they simply detached them and dumped them into the family refuse (such as outhouses) when they got back home. Many older poles (including those of the threadless era) became unsafe to climb due within a decade or so due to pole-base rot, especially in the northeast. Upon setting new poles and upgraded insulators and mounting-hardware, the adjacent older poles usually were cut down and laid to final rest if there was no reason for the telegraph company to drag them back to civilization.