The aesthetic appeal of telegraph poles is universal it would seem. This week I received an interestingly attachment- adorned email from Canadian Society member Paul Fisher (#0546). And you can just tell from his words that Paul “gets” telegraph poles.
…I am glad to know that this society exists – I am not alone with my admiration for old telegraph poles.
I have been driving back and forth from Vancouver BC to the interior of BC to visit an old log cabin for summer fun. Along the way I drive past many kilometres of railroad track, much of it still with the original telegraph poles running alongside. Most of the wires from the poles are missing or just dangling along the ground. There are many different coloured glass insulators across the crossbars of the poles (clear glass, blue glass, brown glass, ceramic, etc..).
I have attached two photos… The first one I think is a great look – there are missing insulators, cut wires and broken crossbars, but the pole still holds strong.
The second photo has an interesting red box along the lower crossmember. I was told by the person who was taking care of this site that this was the pole that the train engineer would stop at, and connect his telegraph (using the big black cable you can see coming down from the pole). From here he would signal back to the train controller to update them of their position and receive further instructions.
Both photos were taken at a historic location in BC where the last spike of the Canadian Pacific railway was driven – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Spike_(Canadian_Pacific_Railway)
There were no markings on either of the old poles. I would guess that they were installed at the time that the railway was installed, so late 1800s.
I hope you like them.
Paul
