Observations
Updated

The following is a list of observations I have about utility poles. Originally, I considered a history page, but my in-depth knowledge of utility poles is a bit limited at this present time, but is growing, thanks to a few replies that I have received.

  1. Colors
  2. Slants
  3. Engrave Marks
  4. Replacing
  5. I.D. Numbers
  6. Insulators
  7. Wires
  8. Street Lights
  9. Climbing Hooks
  10. Inspection Tags
  11. Push Brace Poles
  12. Train Track Poles
  13. Downtown
  1. Colors
    1. Dates
      1. For years, utility poles were the traditional dark brown color. It seems that this color was used less after 1978 and was discontinued altogether within four years later. During those waning years of the dark brown color, most of the utility poles that were erected were orange (a color of pole that I know of that dates at least as far back as 1972). From the mid-1980's on, most of the utility poles that have been erected are green, although there can still be an occasional orange one going up (usually bearing Mereduc instead of Koppers). The oldest green utility poles that I know of date back to 1982 (one of which I saw on Hope Street in Greenfield, and another of which I saw on Route 116 in Amherst; I eventually found a few other such poles in some other areas as well).
        1. [email protected]: New poles are still brown in the Chicago area.
        2. [email protected]: Brown poles are not that uncommon. I lived near a pole yard that manufactures brown poles, and I have seen said brown poles still being used in new construction.
      2. NEW Certain poles are treated with creosote even to this very day. I saw a couple of such poles (one in Greenfield, and one in Bernardston) that are dated for this year (and, incidentally, bearing the Mereduc name). I became curious about looking at the engrave marks because of their dark brown color. One line of the engrave marks read: "SP C 7.5".
      3. In Montague City, there are a couple of brown poles that I know of dated 1979. They were treated by Koppers, although the face type used wasn't the preservation company's then-current usual one. There is also such a pole on G Street in Turners. More recently, I noticed yet three more such poles in Turners (on Montague Street); I believe these have the then-current usual facetype that Koppers used. There is also such a pole at the Montague/Leverett town line near North Leverett Road; this pole (which is among several poles getting replaced in that area) has the engrave mark lettering in the then-usual style. There is also such a pole on Montague City Road in Turners Falls (although the pole is in the processed of being replaced); this has the same style lettering in its engrave mark as the aforementioned Montague City ones.
      4. I was amazed to find out eventually that there is actually a brown pole from the 1980's located in my area. It is one of the very few such poles that I know of. To be exact for the year, this pole is dated 1980, although the zero is barely readable; only the top of the number is less worn down. It even has the "C" following "SP" in its engrave mark.
      5. I also found another dark brown pole (located in Sunderland) dated 1980. Besides the date of this pole, another thing unusual about the engrave marks is that a "P" follows the "SP." Usually, such a pole with this letter would be orange in color.
      6. I even found a brown-colored pole dated 1981 (located in Greenfield). Not only that, it even has a "C" following "SP" in its engrave marks, meaning that it was treated with creosote the year before the new (green-looking) CCA treatment began to be used. Perhaps because it is located near a tree, the pole looks almost brand new, which brings me back memories when dark brown poles used to be erected regularly over twenty years ago. The ID numbers are newer looking than usual as well.
      7. I also saw a pole, dated 1972 and located in Amherst, which is a usual color for a southern pine pole (in this case, light tan), only that it has flakes of light-purplish white color on it. Where the treatment letter would ordinarily be something like "C" or "A," it bears the letter "G." So far, this is the only pole of its kind that I have seen.
      8. I discovered a second pole with the "G" treatment letter; the pole is located right directly near the aforementioned one. The information on the engrave marks is the same; so is the appearance of the pole.
    2. Regional
      1. A current regional general pattern I notice is that the electric company erects the green ones labeled "Koppers," while the telephone company erects the orange ones labeled "Mereduc."
      2. The Holyoke area has some green poles as well. Looking at the engrave marks, I can see that Koppers isn't the only one that treats green-colored poles. There is such a company with the initials SWP that does this as well.
      3. During a New Hampshire trip one day in February 1999, I noticed that many of the poles I saw were orange in color. I saw very few old grayed poles, as well as hardly any green ones.
      4. I now know, for certain, of a few old, grayed poles in New Hampshire; they are located in Hinsdale on Route 63. Also, traveling on Route 10 in the very south of this state, one can see a few other poles about as old, even though they are not of the old, grayed variety.
      5. Shutesbury also doesn't have many green poles. Many of their newer ones are orange, and are stamped with the "Mereduc" name.
      6. South Hadley does not have very many green ones, either; their new poles are usually orange in color.
    3. Appearance
      1. Orange utility poles start out with a bright color, but eventually fade more to a white or faded orange; they also end up looking more brown at the bottom.
      2. The old gray utility poles are faded in a similar way. Some of the lower half of the pole is a yellowish light brown, with the darkest of the brown at the bottom. These utility poles, many of which apparently date back to the 1930's, were probably originally dark brown in color. That's the color of the very bottom of these old utility poles that I notice after I see that it was pulled out of the ground after being replaced by a newer utility pole.
      3. I saw some other proof regarding the original color of the grayed, old poles. At the post office in Greenfield, hanging on a wall, there is a picture of the building (perhaps when it was newly built) with a pole (no longer standing today) in front of it. Even though this is a black and white picture, I can tell that the pole was probably dark brown in color. The pole in the picture also appears to look rather new. I also noticed in the picture that the crossarm braces (which appear more shiny new here, not tarnished in any way) were fastened on the outside of the crossarms. The pole in the picture also has a gable roof.
      4. There can also be some orange poles with brown mixed in their color, making some of these appear more brownish than others. Certain ones even look dark to the point that they look as if they had been treated with creosote.
      5. The looks of a pole probably is based on the type of treatment it receives, as well as what species of tree it is made out of. That is my guess as I notice that a few old, grayed, rough-looking poles actually date after the 1930's. I saw such a pole dated 1941, a couple of others dated 1942, as well as a few from 1946 and 1949. I even saw a similar-looking one dated as recent as 1963. I also saw poles with a smoother and tan-colored surface that date back as far back as the 1930's, making them just as old (or even older) than some of the rough, gray poles. I can also see some poles with a faded orange color that look similar to the grayed ones in terms of surface. Most of these that I have found are dated around 1950.
  1. Roofs
    1. Prior to the mid-1940's, many utility poles were made with a gable roof. This especially applies to the old, grayed utility poles.
    2. There are exceptions to the rule: I've seen some dated 1955 with a gable roof, as well as a tannish colored one like that from 1940 bearing the name "PEN CREO" on its engrave mark, with the "4" on top and the "0" on bottom, in a diamond shape. I also discovered several other such poles like this 1940 one on Route 2 in Gill.
    3. There were also some old poles made with a slant roof. This mostly applies to earlier utility poles made at the time of the old and grayed ones that are usually light brown in color, such as earlier telephone company poles that are shorter in height.
  1. Engrave Marks
    1. Names
      1. Koppers
        1. From the mid-1960's on, many utility poles have been bearing the Koppers name on them.
        2. Before the mid or late 1940's, Koppers's name appeared in the middle of the engrave mark below the date instead of at the top above the date. There were also no references to type of tree and treatment. Thirdly, the class and height numbers were in reverse order.
        3. I know of a Koppers pole in Greenfield dated 1947. The arrangement of numbers and letters are the same as it has been for years -- with the Koppers name on top.
        4. I also saw a Koppers pole in Greenfield dated 1944. The Koppers name appeared in the middle, meaning that the arrangement must have changed between 1944 and 1947.
        5. A pole in my area of Montague Center also has the Koppers name in the middle. I know that the pole is from the 1940's, since I can make out a "4" in the date. The second number is more difficult to make out, but looking at the engrave mark again, it looks like it may be a "1," making the pole possibly dated 1941.
        6. I believe I now know the cutoff period of when Koppers began putting their name at the top instead of in the middle. In the Hampton Beach (of New Hampshire) area, I discovered a Koppers pole dated 1946; the name is in the middle of the engrave mark. Incidentally, I also found an out-of-service Koppers pole dated 1949; the name is at the top on this one.
        7. There is still a possibility, though, that 1947 was a transitional year for the arrangement of the engrave mark. I recall possible 1947 Koppers poles, with the name in the middle, located at Mount Toby. However, it has been about 20 years since I last went there. I hope, eventually, to go up there again and take pictures of the poles that spark my interest.
        8. From 1967 to 1970, the Koppers engrave mark was occasionally designed in such a way that the name lettering formed an upper arch shape, while the species of tree and type of treatment lettering formed a lower arch shape; together, this formed a doughnut shape. The letter combination and date both appeared inside this doughnut shape, while the height and class numbers appeared below it. All of the lettering was smaller than usual, except for the height and class numbers, which were in a completely different typeface than usual and with the height listed first instead of the class.
        9. Koppers began using a new typeset of lettering in 1988.
        10. At the same time that the Koppers typeset changed, a new arrangement of numbers began to appear in front of the year numbers, usually with a hyphen between these two arrangement of numbers. From noticing the pattern, I would have to guess that these new numbers probably represent the month.
        11. I have also seen certain Koppers poles before 1988 that, instead of bearing a two-letter combination, bears a one- or two-digit number right before the year. These same poles also usually seem to have an "8" follow "C" in the next line.
        12. There are actually some, if not a great deal of, Koppers poles dated 1988 through 1990 that are in the facetype that Koppers used for years. These ones, of course, do not include the month number.
        13. Since fall 1999, Koppers began using yet another new facetype, in which the letters and numbers appear taller and thinner.
      2. Mereduc
        1. I have also seen a few poles on occasion that bear a Mereduc name. (I am guessing that this is a wood preservation company just like Koppers, except that unlike Koppers, Mereduc doesn't seem to have a web site -- unless I just haven't found it yet.) The Mereduc logo on these poles is in serif lettering, with an image of a flying duck.
        2. Mereduc has been in existence much longer than I thought. One day, I was looking at some shorter poles, and can recognize the Mereduc logo on three of them, although the engrave mark is very faded on these. I know that these poles have been around for a long time; I am guessing that they date back to the 1950's.
        3. At first, I thought that this preservation company's name was called Meredug. Eventually, however, the thought occurred to me about this preservation company's name: since it has an image of a duck as part of its logo, I was probably getting the name wrong. The "C" at the end of the name looks a bit more like a "G" because the bottom part of the letter looks a bit lengthy.
        4. Mereduc also has its own letter combinations. One that I can think of right off is "NX."
        5. When Koppers has a pole with an orange appearance, the treatment letter is often just "P." However, Mereduc seems to use "PA" to indicate that type of treatment.
      3. P&H
        1. I have a more educated guess as to what "P&H" stand for on some of the old poles. I have seen some such poles with the name "Pentrex" and a few others with a "Hale" name. I am guessing that "P&H" may stand for "Pentrex & Hale."
        2. In Amherst, I saw a pole or two with the "P&H" name as new as the early 1960's. These poles have a similar surface to those of the old grayed ones, only these ones are yellow/orange in color. Also, these poles are of class 2 and 60 feet high. These have to be of heavy duty quality, since there is a bridge that goes over the road, and that the wires have to go over that bridge.
      4. TC
        1. The "TC" logo, for years, has always looked as if it forms a shape of a circle, though the looks of the engrave marks had changed over the years. It looked the same in 1936 and 1937, but changed in 1938 and again by 1941. The engrave marks had looked different still in the early 1960's.
      5. Other Names
        1. On the aforementioned new poles in South Hadley, the preservation company's logo on these looks like an "A" with a tiny "S" in it.
        2. Some other preservation companies besides Koppers and Mereduc probably also have their own letter combinations. There is one that at least uses a single letter combination of "W"; it could be any or more than one of the following preservation companies that use this letter: AMCRECO; LANCO; M-A.
        3. On a few old and grayed poles, I saw a 4-sided shape that has shorter and straighter sides, and longer and curvier top and bottom facing away from each other, with a manufacturer's name and the date appearing within. On one such pole, I can make out the name "Gillis" as part of that manufacturer's name.
        4. Some old, grayed poles that I've seen bear the Pentrex name.
        5. Pentrex poles occasionally have the name "Naugle" on them as well.
      6. The list of preservation names that I have seen on poles, including those already mentioned:
        1. Koppers
        2. Mereduc
        3. M-A
        4. GSC
        5. P&H
        6. Pentrex
        7. Naugle (on Pentrex poles)
        8. B.G. Hale
        9. Mac-Gillis Gibbs
        10. Pen Creo
        11. SWP
        12. AMCRECO
        13. ZMA
        14. "J" (as a fancy letter in a six-sided shape; I am guessing that this and "Joslyn" may be one and the same)
        15. U.S.
        16. LANCO
        17. small "N" inside larger "A"
        18. small "S" inside larger "A"
        19. TC
        20. Century
        21. IMP
        22. E&R
        23. MG&G (my guess is that this is probably the same as Mac-Gillis Gibbs)
        24. "P"
        25. "M" (the lettering is very similar to the new Koppers lettering)
        26. Joslyn
        27. Brown
    2. Dates
      1. I have finally seen a few utility poles dated 1976. A couple of them are in Greenfield; both are orange in color, with one of them treated by Koppers. Another one I saw is in Turners Falls, which I believe is a brown Koppers one with thinner fonts. However, I still have yet to know of any 1976 poles in my Montague Center area.
      2. Not all of the old, grayed poles are dated from the 1930's. In Montague City, I found one dated 1941 (from the engrave mark which I found almost immediately -- very rare for one of these rough-surfaced grayed poles). In contrast, I found one in Greenfield dated as early as 1927 that same day. I also eventually found a few dated 1941 in Northfield and one with that date in Bernardston, as well as a couple dated 1942: one in Turners Falls and another in Amherst. I also know of a couple of push brace poles in Deerfield, as well as several regular poles on Upper Farms Road in Northfield, and some poles getting replaced on Pine Street of the same town -- all dated 1928. I also eventually found another 1927 pole, a stub one located in Deerfield. These non-1930's ones, however, are dated rather close to the 1930's (late 1920's, early 1940's).
      3. Some more comments regarding the 1942 gray pole in Turners Falls mentioned directly above: Besides the "P&H" name and the date, I also clearly made out the name "W.M.E. Co." below the rest of the engrave mark, along with what I believe are probably the class and height numbers. I was guessing that an old, grayed pole on Hope Street in Greenfield may also be dated 1942 because of the "W.M.E. Co." name on that one as well. However, I can only make out the "19" part of the date. I have seen at least a few other P&H poles with class, height, and WME name on it as well, such as one in Hadley that is now getting replaced.
      4. There are even old, grayed poles from the mid and late 1940's. I saw several dated 1946 bearing the name "Pentrex" as well as a few from 1949 bearing the "B.G. Hale" name.
      5. There are a series of old poles near and on Route 2 in the M.E. Co. area of Erving that I had been curious about regarding their age; they have a gable roof and gains for crossarms, but a smoother surface and a medium brown color. I have a great idea as to what their age is now, after making out the date on a couple of them as 1937 and at least one as 1935.
    3. Location
      1. In the older days, the location of the engrave marks varied among the poles. These marks could be found in a high location or down low, as well as either on the front of the pole, on the back, on the side, or even a three-quarter or one-quarter location. This seems to apply to the rough-surface grayed poles in particular.
      2. The location of the engrave marks seems to be more consistent with the faded brown smooth-surface older poles, however. At least with the case of those poles with the names "TC" (that have a slant roof), "Century" (that also have a slant roof, but also a gable roof occasionally), and E&R (that have a gable roof), the engrave marks are on the same side as the gains.
        1. One exception: a gable roof stub pole in Greenfield dated 1931, with a "C" inside a plaque-like eight-sided shape as a logo.
      3. On newer poles, the location of the engrave marks are more consistent. Usually, they can be found on the side of a pole and about two through four feet high from the ground.
      4. One day, when I saw brand new poles laying down on the ground, I noticed that they had an engrave mark at the bottom as well. Older poles can have an engrave mark at the bottom, too (as I had observed of some such poles after they were pulled out of the ground), but are of unknown meaning.
      5. In later spring 1999, I saw a newer pole laying down on the ground that also has a round metal tag at the bottom displaying the name of the preservation company, class number, and to 7, the most common ones being 3, 4, and 5. Now and then, I see one as a class 2, as well as seeing an occasional one as class 6 or 7, and even seeing a few once in a while as class 1. In spring 1999, I discovered several class 7 ones located at a road just outside the center area of Lake Pleasant. I notice a pattern with these class numbers as well: the lower the number, the more heavy-duty the pole is.
      6. I eventually found a web page that lists the classes of poles; it is located at McFarland Cascade in their Utility Poles and Crossarms section. The classes apparently range from H-6 (most heavy duty) to 7 (least heavy duty), but no class 0; each class is also available in certain heights.
      7. I saw an unusual class number on a few old, grayed Mac-Gillis Gibbs poles in Northfield: 5½ — the only time that I ever saw such a class number. There is at least one such pole in Amherst as well. I found out that there is also such a pole (though a severely cut short one that is gone completely now) in Greenfield, after looking closely at a picture of its engrave marks. All of these are Mac-Gillis Gibbs poles; over half of them are also in the process of being replaced.
    4. Height
      1. Many of the poles are marked as being either 35 or 40 feet high. I have seen some marked as 30 feet high as well; these are usually used as stub or push brace poles or poles used only by the telephone company. I have also seen some marked as 45 feet; these are usually used for somewhat heavier-duty use. I even saw a small handful of them that are taller, such as 50 or 70 feet; these are used to hold big transformers or for near a highway bridge so to hold the wires very high. I am guessing that the ones directly by highway bridges are probably at least 75 feet tall.
      2. I actually found a few poles as short as only 25 feet tall. One of them is the aforementioned 1947-dated Koppers pole in Greenfield. Several other ones are located just north of the center of Lake Pleasant. I also saw a few others located in other places, such as one on Swamp Road near my area.
      3. However, I did recently discover a few poles (near an Amherst/Leverett town border) that are even shorter. These ones are only 16 feet tall and have a class number I never realized existed: 9. These poles are definitely of special type of use, since they don't hold up wires.
      4. I also saw a couple of such poles on Route 2 in Erving. At first, I thought that these poles were cut shorter and used to be 25-foot ones. Looking at engrave marks on one of them, however, it is apparent that these were always that short; the height number that I had read is 15 or 16.
    5. Information Tags
        In 1999, looking at a pole brand new for that year, then a broken one on the ground besides it, I noticed a metal tag (very similar to old WME and AMPS tags of many years ago) on the bottom of the broken one; the tag read "35FT CL4." This proves what some of the engrave marks stands for.
    6. Letter Combinations
      1. Some of the letter combinations I have seen on the left of the date of the Koppers poles: "MO"; "GR"; "CH"; "FL"; "GA"; "LR"; "PN."
      2. There also seems to be a pattern between the letter arrangements and the dates on the Koppers poles, in the sense that there are certain correspondences between them. For example, the ones dated 1978 often seem to have "MO."
      3. The pattern mentioned above is not necessarily always the case. For instance, I know of at least as many as three different letter combinations used in 1979.
      4. Some of the letters I have seen that are on the right of the tree species initials: "A"; "C"; "P"; "SK"; "G." There even seems to be a pattern with these letters that correspond with the color of the poles. The brown poles have either "A" or "C" (or "C8" once in a while); the orange ones "P" or sometimes "PA" (and even "PH" once in a while); and the green ones "SK," "SK6," or sometimes "SK60." I have also seen one green one with "S6."
  1. Replacing
    1. Various ways that I have seen poles getting marked for replacement:
      1. one or more "X"'s painted near bottom of pole
      2. down arrow painted near bottom of pole
        1. This marking of a replacement of a pole seems to be most common.
        2. Such poles getting replaced by telephone company-erected poles especially often seem to get marked this way.
        3. On a couple of poles, I saw a painted arrow that was not pointing downward; it was pointing towards the left of the pole it was painted on instead.
          1. I figured out that it is because it means that the new pole will not be located directly next to the old one, but a bit away from it on that side that the painted arrow is pointing. I saw a few more instances of arrows painted like this.
        4. I also saw one case of a double-headed arrow painted on an old pole.
      3. little stick (usually painted white) placed next to bottom of pole
        1. Sometimes the stick is painted red at the top as well.
        2. Sometimes the word "pole" is written on such a stick.
        3. I've also seen the word "bad" written on at least one.
        4. I eventually realized that the little stick does not mean that a pole is marked for replacement, but means that a new pole is planned to be put in that location. As proof of this, I saw such sticks at a location near my area where there used to be no poles at all.
      4. big circle painted on the ground around pole
      5. various words painted on side of road
        1. "NO GAS"
        2. "NO T.V."
          1. I eventually figured out that this is in reference to the cablevision.
        3. UPDATED "NO BELL ATL." (Nowadays, "NO VZ.COM" is painted instead.)
        4. "ANCHOR"
          1. This is probably in reference to putting in a new guy wire.
        5. "POLE"
          1. I have also seen a few instances where any one of these such words was painted near the bottom of a pole.
      6. little white arrow painted on side of road, and pointing towards where the new pole will go
      7. "X" in circle painted on side of road, with arrow pointing towards where the new pole will go
      8. "X" in circle painted on pole
      9. horizontal line (that goes all the way around) painted on pole
      10. a filled-in circle on the side(s) of the pole (which I have seen as orange in some cases, white in others)
    2. The way a pole is marked for replacement seems to depend on what town they're in, though it may depend, actually, on exactly who marks them. Here are a few examples:
      1. Greenfield, Bernardston, and Shutesbury use the down arrow.
      2. Turners Falls (a part of Montague) uses the little sticks, but sometimes "X" as well.
      3. South Hadley uses "X"; I believe Whately does as well.
      4. Northfield seems to use "X" as well.
      5. Amherst painted the words "NO TV" on at least one or two poles.
      6. The horizontal line around a pole was used at least once in Leverett, Greenfield, and Turners Falls.
      7. Montague Center used both an arrow and an all-around horizontal line on at least a couple of poles.
      8. Perhaps there may not be any particular pattern after all. One Turners pole that was marked in December 1999 has a down arrow and an all-around horizontal line. Maybe it depends on who marks a pole or why it is marked a certain way.
    3. There is a small thing on wheels that attaches to the end of a vehicle that I know of that is used to carry new poles.
    4. I have also seen what looks like a gigantic drill on the utility trucks. My guess is that this is probably used to make a hole for a new pole to fit into the ground.
    5. There seem to be a few cases in which some or all of the ID numbers and name tags are cut or taken off an old pole after some or all of the wires are transferred to a new pole. One or both of the companies may have done this. I had noticed this (and was also surprised by this) when I revisited a few poles in Turners that are getting replaced. Perhaps it was because the ID numbers of some of the telephone company numbers have changed when the respective company hammered numbers on the new poles.
    6. I have also seen a few instances in which a utility company reuses an ID number by taking it off an old pole and putting it on the new one that is replacing it. This is especially evident of an instance that I've seen in Amherst and Bernardston, as well as a possible instance apiece in Northfield and Hadley.
    7. Once in a while, I even see an instance of a pole getting reused. A few examples: a stub pole in Montague Center; a stub pole in Hadley; one pole by a school pond in Montague Center; a 1947 Koppers pole, which I mentioned elsewhere in the Observations pages; and one from Erving dated 1985, which was just erected this year. Except for the Erving one, it is evident that they were formerly located somewhere else because of indications of ID numbers that are no longer there.
    8. One day, I noticed a rare instance of a new pole getting taken down while the somewhat older and cracked pole continues to stand. My guess is that the utility companies gave second thoughts about the wiring location, and decided to have the wires go across the road at some point. Both the cracked pole that is going to be replaced and a neighboring pole have been marked with an arrow, as there has also been a new pole, with a push brace pole, erected from across the road. Looking at the push brace pole carefully, I recognized it as the same pole that was originally standing next to the cracked pole that is to be replaced. It is obvious that the telephone company set the new poles up this way, because they are orange Mereduc brands, and that it is the telephone wiring that has been transferred so far, not to mention that telephone pole numbers have been hammered on them, not electric pole numbers.
    9. For the first time, I witnessed an erection of a new pole. As I figured, the device that looks like a giant drill (on the crane-like part of the utility truck) is used to create a hole for the new pole to go in. (The drill is more slow and less noisy than what I expected it to be.) I also found out that they use what looks like an orange belt to lift up the pole (this belt is located within the same crane-like area). After the new pole is upright correctly, it is slowly lowered into the hole. A small loop-like rope on the crane-like part is then used to hold the new pole into place as the utility men take the dug-up dirt and pile it around the new pole, as well as use a device (I believe) that flattens out the dirt around it. I also witnessed the hammering up of ID numbers for the first time; this is one of the last things that is done during an erection of a new pole. The whole process apparently takes about 30 to 45 minutes altogether.
    10. I witnessed the taking down of an old pole (one that had been out of service for many years that had been used at a tennis court). It is like watching an erection of a new pole, only in reverse. A major difference, though, is that the pole was sawed off at its base.
    11. I also had just missed the sawing off a head of an older pole. I had heard distant sawing. By the time I began witnessing, the electric company was carefully carrying the head of the pole down with their machinery and ropes. The crossarms were still on the head of the pole when they sawed it off, something I was surprised to see.
      1. That same day, I witnessed them transferring a street light from another old pole to its respective new pole.
      2. There were also two electric trucks doing the wire transferring, probably in order to get the work done faster.
    12. On a more recent trip to Hadley, I witnessed the telephone company erect the last two of four poles that they did so that day. I was also given some idea as to what the orange material wrapped around a new pole is for. At some point, I was guessing that it had something to do with nearby trees, since one new pole that they erected is near trees. When I was watching them put up another pole, however, one lineman considered putting the orange wraparound material on the new pole going up. I heard another lineman saying to him, "We won't be needing that." This was after the pole was successfully stood upright and almost fully erect in the hole that it was going in. My guess is that the linemen use the orange wraparound to even the weight of the pole because the bottom of it is probably heavier.
      1. Because of the direction that this new pole was down on the ground, it was trickier than usual for the linemen to erect it. They had to turn the pole around because of its laying down location as compared to where the old pole is standing.
      2. I also noticed at least a couple of different tools used: something to unscrew climbing hooks (in which in this case two were taken off the old pole) and a device (which looks like a gigantic C-head can opener) to roll the pole around. There were also at least two or three shovels used.
    13. On Deerfield Street in Greenfield, I noticed an unusual way for the utility companies (probably electric, in this case) to replace an old pole with a new one: electric wires were taken off the old pole, and the pole cut shorter, before the new pole was put in. Then, eventually, the new pole was erected, but probably after the old one was taken out altogether. My guess is that it is because of where the old pole was located: in a paved area on a sidewalk near the side of the road. From what I can see, it appears that the very same hole that the old pole left behind is now being used by the new pole. [Incidentally, there was also a number skip in the telephone sequence. Even though the numbers on the old pole appeared only in pieces, I can tell that it had the number "20" and that the number "21" was obviously skipped because a remaining piece of a number looked like that of a "0." The pole that followed this one is "22," skipping "21." However, the new pole bears the telephone company number "21"; it is now "20" that is skipped instead.]
      1. The method of replacing old poles with new ones by reusing the same holes appears to have been used on the earlier part of the Bank Row end of Deerfield Street as well. This applies to three telephone company serviced poles. It also applies to a telephone company pole, located in the same area, that was hit in early 1999. Like the pole mentioned directly above, these four poles were also located at a paved area.
    14. On cutting down poles going out of service, there are a few instances in which a tiny part of the pole is still hanging there, holding up a few wires (usually telephone ones).
    15. An old pole going out of service can also be cut down to size several times. For instance, after the electric company transfers some of the electric wires to a new pole, they cut a little bit of the top off. After the electric company is finished transferring wires altogether, the pole is cut down to where the cable and telephone wires are. Then, after the telephone company and/or cable company transfers the wires that they service, the older pole is sometimes cut down to size even more.
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