The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1909-08-18
WOOD PRESERVATION
STUDIED
FOREST SERVICE MAKES Elk
PERiMENTS ON VARIOUS WAYS
OF TREATING TIMBER.

Interest in the preventative treat
iuCnt of timber 10 Increase its length
nr life Is developing at Il rapid rate
throughout the northwestern states. A
few years ago when all kinds at wood
were cheap and plentiful people So
lected the kinds which were most
durable and best suited for their pur-
poses The result is that the most
valuable species are nowadays COM
paratively scarce and high. and the
cost of wood has become u big item,
particularly to farmers. railroads,
mines and telephone companies. The
men controlling these industries nat
urally began to cast about for some
means of reducing the cost Of fence
posts. pilinE. railroad ties, mine tim
hers, Telephone and telegraph poles.
and other timbers likely to decay, and
making them last longer. The thought
naturally occurred. IF there were
some way To MAX" the common and
CHEAP kinds Of timber last longer II
might help some" Various people got
busy and worked out several different
methods Of treating timber cheapiy.
and vet effectively. Probably the
United States government. through the
forest service. has worked on this
longer than anyone else in this coun-
try. Nav the processes have been 50
well developed that the economy Of
timber treatment is a sure thing. The
life of almost any wood can at least
be doubled by thorough impregnation
with creosote or zinc chloride. This
alone means a great saving. both in
the original cost OF the timbers ana
in the labor of replacing them. But
better yet, cheap woods when Wen
treated are Just as good as the vaiu-
able and naturally durable kinds and
will last considerably longer than
those which are naturally durable but
untreated. Then cottonwood, Willow
spruce. iodgepole pine or jack pine
can lie used In place of cedar Tor
rnsts: birch. hemlock or tamarack III
place of oak for ties: lodgepola pine IN
place nf cedar for poles and in every
case the treated substitute viii last
longer than the wood commonly used
and will cost less.
The railroads, always alert for great
or economy in management, were the
first TO adopt preventative treatment
for their ties. The Northern Pacific
now creosotes nearly every tie used.
It's two creosoting plants at Brainerd.
MINI. and at Paradise are running
10 their full capacity and using any
species of wood. The Great Northern
orerates a large plant at Somers.
where ii uses zinc chloride instead of
crensote. Two new plants will be
erected very soon by the Great North
NJ 81
another near the western end of the
line in Washington. The new trans
continental road, the Chicago. Milwau-a
kee & Puget Soud, is also planning to
build very large treating plant in
Montana within short timp.
The large mining companies are not
far behind the railroads in adopting
rreservative treatment for the timber
used in the mines, a. enormous guam
titles of timber are used each year
for supports. While great deal of
this is temporary in character, there
are many tunnels and shafts which
must be kept open for a long term of
wears Here where wood decays very
ranicly and the cost of replacing the
timbers is very great n good deal of
money can be saved by treating the
timber with Il nreseryanss. the
Turker hin 4 sullivan Mining 4
Chnveutg attng company of Kellogg.
Idaho. and the Hercules Mining cNom-
pany of Burke. Idaho. last year OBJ
tanned the assistance of the forest
service in designing and building
treating plants. The forest service
furnished an engineer in wood nreser-
walton To take charge of the plants
until employees of the companies had
become familiar with the work, the
companies paying the expenses. After
six months operation under the So
pervisinn nj the forest service the lat
ter withdrew and the plants are now
being run by the companies them
selves.
Any person who so desires can oh
tain similar cooperation with the
service by application To the district
forester at MisSnuia, Mont.