The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-06-20
RAILROAD TIES
GROWING SCARCE
Enormous Number Required in
the United States.
A VERY SERIOUS PROBLEM
VERY LITTLE PROGRESS MADE
IN SOLUTION.
A VERY SERIOUS PROBLEM

Especial to The Herald.)
Washington. June 1s.-The depart
menr OF agriculture has finished an ex-
hapstive report on the subject of rail-
road ties which calls especial attention
20 the increasing amount OF timber
used for ties, and urging that. in view
OF the rising prices and diminishing
supply already evident some steps
should be taken TO provide FOR future
needs.
The enormous rate of consumption
of timber for railroad ties" says the
report, and To q less extent for tele-
ETaDh poles ana other timbers used in
railroad work, is giving serious con-
Germ Go an railroad men at the present
day. Vast quantities of wood are taken
1rom our forest lands every year with
out any regard FOR the future. Various
suggestions have been made as TO how
the question Of d future supply OF ties
might DE solved Some have suggest
CO. ana this suggestion is made with
increasing frequency that ties should
De made out OF materials other than
wood Granite ties were am0ne tine
earliest substitutes offered. They we're
used for some time i'm Dublin. Ireland.
and on the old Boston d. Lowell rail-
road III Massachusetts, For some fifty
years various forms of metal ties have
been tried i'm various countries.
Problem For the Future.
-In spite of the general urging to
economy and i'm spite of the general ace
Ceptauce of the fagt that timber has
become scaTcer and more expensive
from year so year. very little progress
seems to. have been made toward solv-
lng, even partially, the question as to
what Is TO be done TO secure ties ia the
future Ties are SIN bought aud sold
as they were years ago. IL is. however.
becoming harder every year for the
purchasing agent to Call for 500 600
Irst-class ties of white oak with the
certainty of getting them. The UNI
welcome fact that ties are scarcer has
already presented ITSELF and viii con-
fInue 10 do SO with rapidly increasing
force. it is believed that the next few
years VIII see a very radical change in
the attitude of railroad men toward the
tie problem, and, therefore, toward for
est problems.
The rapid Introduction of treated
tlmbers is the first step i'm this change.
Many have protested against the
or treated woods. and are still doing So.
but viii eventually come 10 use them.
IRE adTIsabiiiIy of using treated woods
Is mo- longer an open question, their
use Us a matter Of necessity today ana
must be regarded as such jpn meeting
present problems.
Chemical Treatment.
THE chemical treatment Of timber is
mo longer am experiment. One can treat
timber so as to prevent it from decay
ing, and there ought TO be no hesita-
tion i'm adopting the use of treated tim
bers on most railroads today"
The ties now i'm use i'm this country
are practically all rectangular, the re-
port says. and vary I'm dimensions. a I
list Of representative railroads are Civ
en-, with the kind of timber used for
ties, with Che length and breadth and
thickness. The Northern Pacific uses
ne ~ white oak, eight feet long ami
eight by six The Union Pacific. West
eTn yellow pine eight feet eight inches
Ions with varying breadth and thick
ness. Missouri Pacific, variegated
woods, with varying dimensions from
seven 20 eight feet long. Atchison. To-
peha d santa Ee, hewn lougleaf, shoft-
lear, or lobiBlly pine, eight feet long
and eight by six.
a new system of classification is sue-
kested, and also tie of standard di- /
meuslOns- ON account of the large
number of standards I'm use. while n /
has not seriously interfered with the
lumber trade in the past is beginning I
10 do so at the present time The re- /
port says that there is absolutely mo-
reason why dead timber should not be /
Used for ties, especially when these are I
90 be treated provided always that the /
dead timber is sound. The mere fact /
that timber is dead should not cause ID /
10 he Disseminated against for tie Dur- /
poses
The report details the manner of cut /
ting four Triangular ties and other
Forms from trees to avoid waste meth I
v10 used abroad I'm securing Ties. and /
the results of experiments as lo dHrs- 4
UiIty etc.