When telephone lines used to be strung, especially over rough terrain, mules would carry the spools and play out the wire. They would soon learn how many poles to pass before going over to the other side in order to correctly transpose the wires.(transposing, ie outside wire/inside wire on the crossarm switching sides was done to cancel interference, such as in a nearby power line or even adjacent telephone lines. The good old days, most lines now are underground)
When telephone lines used to be strung, especially over rough terrain, mules would carry the spools and play out the wire. They would soon learn how many poles to pass before going over to the other side in order to correctly transpose the wires.(transposing, ie outside wire/inside wire on the crossarm switching sides was done to cancel interference, such as in a nearby power line or even adjacent telephone lines. The good old days, most lines now are underground)