The Glenwood post., 1907-10-26
On Eight Hundred Thousand
Miles Of Wires in the
United States
FORESTRY DEPT. TESTS

locomotive out of consideration, no
agent has taken a more prominent place
in the material development of the
Rocky mountain region that the tele
phone and the telegraph. Improve
mcnts in overland transportation furn
ishcd by steam roads and in rapid com
munication made possible by the use Of
the wire for delivery of messages have
gone hand in hand in making the great
West thoroughly accessible and in
fastening development.
A person seldom realizes the impor
egraph play in his daily life, and few
know the enormous amount of capital
invested and material that is required
to construct and maintain the extensive
lines. Thirty million poles are used on
100000 miles of telephone and telegraph
lines. This does not include the large
number of poles which are required by
the electric lighting and transportation
companies. Most of the poles in use are
cedar, but throughout this Rocky noun.
tain region this is not available, and
Douglas fir is substituted. Douglas fir,
while not 50 durable as cedar, is so
much more lasting than the other avail
able timbers, that its use has been
widely extended.
AS the telephone and telegraph lines
increased to meet the demands of busi
ness brought about by the growth of
railroads and towns, it became neces-
sary to cut large areas of timber lands
to supply the poles holding the wires
For long time timber was so plentiful
that suitable poles could be easily OBJ.
tanned without going far from the lines
under construction. Now, however, the
considerable distance that the poles
must be transported in many cases and
the general scarcity of timber has tended
to raise the cost. Consequently, pole
users have been compelled to find some
cheaper, more abundant timber to re-
place the expensive Douglas fir or dis
cover some inexpensive way of making
it last longer by fighting off decay.
The decay of wood is caused by the
action of low forms of plant life called
fungi and bacteria. These live upon the
wood and in time completely destroy it.
In order to grow, they require suffi-
cient amount of heat, air, moisture and
food. All of these requirements are met
in most parts Of the United States.
when the pole is set however, air and
moisture generally exist in requisite
amounts only in that portion of the pole
near the surface of the ground. The
portion of the pole buried sevral feet
under ground does not furnish them
with the necessary air, while that part
above the ground, in most cases, con
tains insufficient moisture for their de-
velopment. If the part near the ground
line can be Unprotected from attack. the
life of the pole can be materially in
creased.
MANY methods have been tried at
various times to protect this vital part
of the pole. Most of these consisted in
applying oils or paint or similar sub
stances with brush to the butt. With
few exceptions, they have been large
" abandoned as not giving the desired
protection. The substance applied re-
mained almost entirely upon the sur
face of the wood, and as a result sea
seasoning checks and wind shakes rup-.
tured the coating and exposed the un'
treated wood to attack by fungi, which
soon destroyed the pole.
The forest service of the United
States department of agriculture has
spent considerable time in developing
method by which the butts of poles
can be successfully and economically
preserved against decay, with conse-
auent increase in the life of the pole.
This consists in immersing them in al
ternate baths of hot and cold prescrva-
tive such as creosote or zinc chloride.
The poles are placed in tank of hot
preservative to n depth of one foot
above the ground line when set, and
kept there for few hours, depending
upon the species and condition of the
timber. The pole is then placed in
bath of cold preservative for short
period, which completes the treatment
When the wood is heated in the first
bath, the air and moisture in the wood
cells and intercelluar spaces is expand
ed, and some of it is driven out. Upon
immersion in the cold prescrvntive, the
difference in temperature causes the ex-
panded air and moisture to contract,
thus forming partial vacuum, which