Early lines built by New England Telephone & Telegraph Company requiring more than 4 wires employed six-pin crossarms opposed to side pins. These arms date back to the mid to late 1880s through around 1910 and they were mounted to their poles via two diagionally spaced lag screws, mostly with crossarm braces also supporting them (I'd say after the early 1890s). Construction after around 1910 employed ten-pin crossarms as we see within this Vermont village. A single through-bolt affixed them to their new poles, using the same-style (often re-used) crossarm braces. Most of the latter were 30 inches in length and were placed over the crossarm opposed to the inside of them, pararell to the pole itself. NET&T used the above construction practice for decades. At some point they started to use creosoted pins and crossarms...designed to last virtually forever.

Click "Next" for a closer view of this pole line changeover.