The Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1885-1886, 1886-02-24
MILLIONS OF RAILROAD TIES.

How the Forests Are Sacrificed to Fur
nish Them-Proposed Substitutes.
THE railroads of this country" said a
railway official well posted on the subject,
pay 5000, 900 year for the cross ties. The
timber used is oak, chestnut and hemlock in
the east, and oak, cherry, locust, maple and
ash in the south and west. The best ties are
made of white oak More than 225, 900 acres
Of forest are needed to supply these tics
every year, and consequently the necessities
Of railroads in this one respect alone form a
considerable item in the destruction of our
forests. The country along the line of our
road alone annually supplies us with hun
dreds of thousands of oak and chestnut tics,
and thus far We have not been compelled to
20 outside of our own district for our sup
plies. One county in Pennsylvania fur
nlshes 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 supply depot for railroad ties.
Il have often wondered where they all
come from, for the contractors who operate
in that county after thirty years of chop
ping and hewing in her forests never hesi-
tate to contract for the delivery of as many
ties as we may call for, and they are brought
in from rs far as fifteen miles from the rail
road. Besides the large number that we
annually receive from the county the Della
ware & Laekawanna road, on the other side
of the county, depends on the same region
for large share of its ties. For more than
twenty-five years. also up to the time we
adopted coal as fuel, Pike county fun
hihed the Erie with hundreds of thousands Of
cords of wood every year-oak, chestnut,
maple, hickory, and pine. Besides these
drafts on her timberland the county's best
young chestnut trees have been cut for more
than thirty-fve years to help in renewing our
telegraph poles.
Railroad ties need renewing every three
years. In building new road the estimate
is :, 200 ties for each mile 1t is same to say
that it viii require 800 ties per mile per year
to keep road in repair From L, 000,0 900 TO
l5,0n,Un new ties are required by the rail
roads of the United States every year. In
building the great western railroads the
contractors in many cases purchase outright
the timber along the routes, or as near TO it
as possible. In that case they pay from $50
to S25 an acre for the land Ii they con
tract simply for the ties they pay from 10 to
II cents apiece for them 10 the owner Of the
land for all the ties taken out The average
price paid to the contractor is 81 cents apiece,
although we have paid as much as 80 cents
for the best oak ties. HeWn ties are better,
in our estimation, than sawed ones, and we
use no Others. Some companies think as
well of sawed ties as of the hevn ones The
theory Of our people is that the hewn tie lasts
much longer than the others.
1T 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 road pays IL the tie contractors along
the line about 800, 600 year Stone, iron,
paper, and even glass have been used in
making railroad ties, with the hope that
they could be practically adopted as mat
ter of economy in that department of the ex.
pense of railroads, but none of them have
Vet been utilized with satisfactory results
The annual clearing of of 20, 900 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 viii discover such a substitute. "-Por;
Jsrvis Cor New York Times