Earlier 6-pin construction stands in the background as those poles eventually (sooner than later) would be replaced by new ones with 10-pin crossarms. This was commonly the trend throughout at least here in the northeast U.S. since aging poles that were 20-30 years old (or older) continued to be upgraded through the rest of the 1920s. This was especially true with Western Union. The new poles often were cedar. Hard-drawn copper wire also was installed along telegraph routes commencing in the early teens or so, replacing aging iron wire that had been in service since the 1880s-early 1900s.

Wooden junction boxes on this H-frame pole provided dry-spot connections for converting these openwire circuits to heavy-duty paired cable. In this instance the combined cable probably was needed for running underneath a bridge whereby openwire lines would not have had enough clearance to do so.