HARDWOOD RECORD 



49 



!i crisis on aLuouiit of the blight, uiul no dependence for the future 

 can be placed on it. 



The situation may be summed up in a way to show that the trees 

 which now furnish the bulk of ties, and have done so for years, can- 

 not do so much longer. Ties, however, must be had, and new sources 

 of supply must he found. What are the possibilities along that line? 



Douglas fir, western yellow pine and redwood are abundant in the 

 far West. They are supplying jilmut 1(5,000,000 ties a year now, ami 

 for years to come they could furnish all the railroads of the United 

 States. In fact, there is enough of these three woods on the stumj) 

 now to supply for 200 years all the ties wanted, provided the demand 

 would not increase above what it is now. 



Two factors stand in the way of turning Douglas fir, western yellow- 

 pine and redwood over to the railroads as a reserve source of ties. 

 The wood is needed for other purposes, and it is so far away from 

 the majority of the railroads that the cost of the 2,000 or 3,000 

 miles haul would be prohibitive. The railroads must find ties closer 

 home, if possible, or as long as possible. 



In a preceding paragraph it was shown that the average cost of 

 ties, when bought by railroads, was about $15 a thousand feet, board 

 measure. It happens that the average value of sawed lumber in the 

 mill yard is practically the same, taken for the whole country. The 

 value quoted for the ties applies when delivered on the right-of-way, 

 which is generally near the place where they are to be used — their 

 ultimate market. The lumber, on the other hand, is valued in the 

 mill yard, the point of (irodui tioii, which averages about 300 miles 

 from its ultimate market. The important point to bear in mind is, in 

 making this comparison, that crossties, foot for foot, are cheaper 

 than lumber, though the difference is small. It amounts to approxi- 

 mately the freight on a 300-mile shipment of lumber ; that is, an 

 operator can get a little more for his logs reduced to lumber than if 

 he made them into ties, but the difference is not large enough to pay 

 for sawing the ties. Otherwise tie timber would be sawed into lum- 

 l)er. There is a nice balance here, a sort of competition between 

 the lumberman and the railroads for the tie lumber. The railroads 

 have to pay enough to draw it away from the lumberman. In a 

 former paragrai)h the statement was made that railroads could still 

 procure all the white oak ties they want by raising the price. They 

 would need to raise it only in those localities where lumbermen are 

 now outbidding them. 



This phase of the situation is somewhat modified by the fact that 

 ties are often made of timber of such small sizes or otherwise of 

 such inferior grade that if converted into lumber it would not be 

 very valuable. This is really the saving grace in the situation, be- 

 cause if railroads were comjielled to buy ties made of oak fit for 

 quarter-sawing they could not afford to touch an oak tie. 



As far as absolute scarcity of tie timber is concerned, it will le 

 many a year before railroads are unable to get some kind of ties if 

 they are able and willing to pay the price; but the time is not far 

 off when the manner of providing ties for the country's railroads 

 will need radical revision. The revision has already begun, and its 

 basic principle does not consist so much in searching for new woods 

 as in treating with preservatives the old woods to make them last 

 longer. The salvation of the railroads lies in that direction. They 

 must get along with fewer ties by making them give longer service. 



The search for new woods has been thorough. It has bf,?n clearly 

 seen that white oak cannot hold its jilace indefinitely, and it has been 

 a question what shall take its |dace. Various suggestions have been 

 made, and commendable efforts have been put forth to provide for 

 the shortage when it comes. Enthusiasts have suggested that the 

 semi-tropical hardwoods in southern Texas and Florida be utilized for 

 crossties. The hardness of the woods and their unquestioned dur- 

 ability have been pointed out. 



The suggestion is honestly nuide, but without due consideration of 

 the fact that ties piled along the Rio Grande or on the southern 

 coast of Florida are a long distance from the places where they are 

 needed. But that is not the weakest point in the matter. All of the 

 semi-tropical woods from Key I-^argo, Florida, to Devil 's River, Texas, 

 would hardly make enough crossties to last the railroads of this coun- 

 try one year. To depend on those woods to really help the situation 



is a delusion and a snare. The list of alleged seaii-tropical tie tim- 

 bers is long enough, to be sure, and includes mangrove, lignumvitae, 

 blackwood, strongback, buttonwood, inkwood, mesquite, huisache, cats- 

 claw, horsebean, Texas ebony and fifty more, but a personal acquain- 

 tance with the region will speedily convince anyone that the names 

 are about all there is of the trees. Trunks are few, small, crooked, 

 branched and deformed. Railroads in the immediate vicinity use 

 some of the woods for ties, but it is because they are convenient. 



Some of the country's leading railroads anticipated tie shortage 

 some years ago and undertook to plant trees and grow the necessary 

 timber. The move was commendable and deserved better success 

 than attended it. In the first place, not enough planting was done 

 to make a "drop in the bucket." Had all the trees done well they 

 would not have furnished enough ties to amount to much; but there 

 were other troubles. In the Kast the ]>lanted locust was eaten up by 

 beetles; the chestnut was threatened or attacked by blight. In the 

 South the catalpa was a fizzle; and the eucalyptus plantations on 

 the Pacific slope are still in the inchoate and experimental stage. 



Meanwhile the railroads nmst have ties, and they will continue to 

 buy them in large quantities. The standby timbers, such as white 

 oak, hard pine and northern white cedar, are still holding out, but 

 they cannot meet the demand much longer, and other kinds of tim- 

 ber must make up the deficienev'. 



The reasonable thing to do is to treat all crossties with preserva- 

 tives to make them last longer. By doing that the demand can be 

 cut down nearly one-half, because a properly treated tie lasts nearly 

 twice as long as one in its natural state. That, of course, depends 

 on the kind of wood. Some last a long time in the wood's natural 

 condition, and preservative will not double their period of usefulness; 

 but others decay quickly if unprotected, and the life of such can 

 easily be doubled. 



Preservative treatment is neither new nor experimental. It has 

 been tried and proved. In 1912 there were 112 treating plants in 

 the United States, nearly ninety of which were well equipped. Steam 

 railroads operate twenty-two plants for treating their own crossties 

 and other timbers. In 1911 there were 31,141,231 crossties treated 

 in this country, and it is interesting to note the various woods making 

 up the total. The following table gives the information: 



Southern pino 11.60G.3!1J 



Oak n,4:!:'..onL' 



Douglas fir .'i.Gli.S.TOt; 



Western pine 1.7s;),o2G 



Gum 1.1 M'.oii,-, 



Tamarack 7."iri.414 



Beech 7:;0.;i28 



Birch and maple 620,047 



Hemlock 535,255 



Elm 202.008 



Spruce loi.sos 



Cypress loi.si;4 



Lodgepole pine 02,158 



White pine 78,273 



Hackberry 62,568 



Chestnut 47.538 



Sycamore S2,244 



Cedar 26.000 



Hickory 21,441 



Walnut . .- 2.000 



.\sh 1.3fl0 



Cherry 674 



Total 31.141.2:U 



The tendency is apparent in the above table. The treatment is 

 being applied to woods which decay quickly without it, thereby draw- 

 ing upon new sources of supjily. The reports do not specify, yet it 

 is well known that most of the nine million and more oak ties which 

 passed through the treating plants were in the red oak or black oak 

 class. These woods in the natural state decay quickly when laid in 

 tracks; but treatment lengthens their life. Nine million red oak 

 ties lessens the drain by that much on the white oaks. Even such 

 woods as gum, beech, elm, white pine, sycamore and hickory make 

 good ties after being passed through the preserving tanks. A prac- 

 tically worthless tie wood in its natural condition is converted into 

 a serviceable piece of timber by the injection of preservatives. 

 In that direction lies the hope of the situation. Ties can be made 



