Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1909-06-18
Millions of Cross Ties Purchased
by Railroads in 1903,


year 1908, the steam and electric rail- |
roads of. the United States purchased
more than 112 900, 900 cross ties, costing,
at the point of purchase, over $50, 600, 900
an average of fifty cents per tie, accord
ing to statistics just made public by the
Bureau of the Census in cooperation
with the United States Forest Service.
This was some 40 900, 900 ties less than
the quantity purchased in 1907, when
the total was approximately 1853, 700 900,
the highest ever recorded, The de-
creased purchases in 1908, were, OF
course, chiefly due to the business de-
preston which affected every line Of in
dustry. This forced most of the roads
to purchase only the ties which were
absolutely essential for renewals, and
heavily cut down the purchase for new
track. In 1908 only 7,431 900 cross. ties
were reported as purchased for new
track as against 49, 557 900 in 1907. OF
the total number of ties purchased for
all purposes, the steam roads took ap-
proximately ninetyfour per cent, leav-
| ing about six per cent for the electric
| roads.
| 1t is very interesting to note the wide
range of woods used for cross-ties. The
preliminary report by the Census Bureau
lists separately fifteen classes or species.
or these the oaks are now and have al
ways been by far the most important.
The oak ties amounted to more than
5000, 900, or forty-three per cent. of the
total quantity purchased. Next to these
ranked the southern yellow pines, with
p 800, 900, or nineteen per cent. of the
total. 1t will be seen that the oaks and
southern pines combined furnished near
ly three-fourths of all the ties bought by
the railroad companies last year. Cedar
and chestnut supplied more than S,000,-
600 ties each, and Douglas fir nearly as
much. About 100000 tamarack ties
were purchased nearly $500, 900 cypress
ties, and, in round numbers, 5000, 900
each of western pine and hemlock.
Redwood, white pine, lodgepole pine,
gum. beech, spruce, and several other
woods were used in smaller quantities.
While the oaks, and particularly the
white oaks, have always been the pre-
ferred woods for cross-ties and still form
large proportion of the total, the in
creasing prices which the roads have
had to pay for satisfactory oak ties are
forcing them to look more and more for
substitutes. This accounts in part for the
great variety of woods reported. White
oak, untreated, makes a tie which gives
excellent service for many years, but it
has been found possible to take woods
which naturally are not durable. give
them a treatment with either creosote
or zinc chloride, which will prevent de-
and TINS u1nph lOnupr carxica
from them than can be secured from
untreated oak ties. Among the woods
which have been most largely treated so
far are the yellow pines, particularly
loblolly pine, Douglas fir, western pine,
and lodg-po pine.
This years statistics adds to the list
two kinds of cross-ties which previously
had not been reported in sufficient guam
tity to justify listing them separately.
These are gum and beech. The pur-
chasers of gum ties in 1908 exceeded
26O, 600, while but slightly more than
1000 of them were reported in the pre-,
vious year. OF beech ties, the purchase
in 1908 amounted to nearly 1913 900,
against but little more than $1,000 in
1907. These are woods which are dig
: tinctly not suitable for cross ties unless
they are given preventative treatment
Their increased use, therefore, is one OF
the many results of the progress of wood
preservation in the United States. Fol-
many years beech has been one of the
principal cross-tie woods in Europe
where its value when given chemical
treatment was long ago recognized II
is not uncommon for European roads L
: secure from twenty to thirty years ser
vice from beech cross ties. UntreateC
, they would not last long enough to war
rant their use at ALL