, 1886-01-22
MILLIONS OF RAILROAD TIES.

How the Forests Arc Sacrificed to Fur
nish Thcm-Proposed Substitutes.
9Th railroads of this country said a
railway official well posted on the subject,
"pay $6,0OO,O0O a year for the cross ties. The
timber used is oak, chestnut and hemlock in
the cast, and oak. cherry, locust, maple and
ash in the south and west. The best ties are
made OF white oak. More than DDS, 900 acres
OF forest are needed to supply these ties
every year, and consequently the necessities
OF railroads in this one respect alone form a
considerable item in the destruction OF our
forests tt country along the line of our
road alone annually supplies us with nm
dreds Of thousands Of oak and chestnut ties,
and thus far we have not been compelled TO
go outside OF our own district for our sup
plies. One county in Pennsylvania fur
nishes a large proportion OF our ties, and
has for many years. That is Pike county,
and every station on our line in that county
is n supply depot for railroad ties
~ have often wondered where they all
come from, for tho contractors who operate
In that county after thirty years Of chop
ping and hewing in her forests never hest
tate 10 contract for the delivery Of as many
ties as we may call for, and they nre brought
in from as far as fifteen miles from the rail
road. Besides the large number that we
annually receive from the county the Della
ware & Lackawanna road, on the other side
OF tho county, depends on the same region
for a large share of its tics. For more than
twenty-five years, also, up to the time we
adopted coal as a fuel, Pike county furn-
ished the Erie with hundreds OF thousands OF
cords Of wood every year-oak, chestnut,
maple, hickory, and pine. Besides these
dra H. IN kar ftrnkarlanA The aopntvau Ioct
young chestnut trees nave been cut for more
than thirty-five years to help in renewing our
telegraph poles.
RAILROAD ties need renewing every three
year,. In building a new road the estimate
Is Z, 700 ties for each mile. 1t is same to say
that it will require 800 ties per mile per year
to keep a road in repair. From 100000 TO
100000 new ties are required by the rail
roads of the United States every year. In
building the great western railroads tho
contractors in many cases purchase outright
the timber along the routes, or as near to it
as possible. In that case they pay from $40
TO $25 an acre for the land. If they con-
tract simply for the ties they pay from 10 to
IL cents apiece for them to the owner OF the
land for all the ties taken out. The average
price paid to the contractors So cents apiece,
although we have paid as much as 30 cents
tOr Ihe Dcst OAK ueS- HOWL ueS are Detucrf
In our estimation, than sawed ones, and we
use no others. Some companies think as
well OF sawed ties as of the hewn ones. The
theory Of our people is that the hewn tie lasts
much longer than the others.
at is only within the past few years that
hemlock has been used to any extent in
making railroad ties, but we find that It can
used TO advantage in many Instances on
sidings and sections of track where the
traffic does not require constant repairs.
This Dad pays to the tie contractors along
the line about s400,000 a year. Stone, iron,
paper, and even glass have been used in
making railroad ties, with the hope that
they could DO practically adopted as a mat
ter OF economy in that department of the ex-
pense of railroads, but none of them have
yet been utilized with satisfactory results,
The annual clearing off Of a 10000 acres of
timber to supply railroads with ties alone is
something that should direct the attention OF
those who are interested in the important
question OF protection to forests TO the find-
ing OF some practical substitute for wooden
ties. Fame and fortune await the inventor
who will discover such n substitute. Port
Jervis Cor. New York Times.