TIMBER CONSERVATION IN WYOMING 



BY QUINCY R. CRAFT 



FIFTH from newest State, and one whose population 

 is less per square mile (conservation resulting often 

 from the demands of dense population) than any 

 other State, Wyoming probably leads all other States in 

 the proportion preservatively treated of the timber used, 

 and of the timber cut, within the State. This is largely 

 due to the fact that so great a proportion of the timber 

 cut and timber used is in the form of ties. Since nearly 

 all the timberland in the State is included within the 

 National Forests, the proportion of its timberlands 

 under forest management is perhaps as great as in any 

 State. Less timber is cut in Wyoming than in any of 



Of the 1,746 miles of railroad in Wyoming, 1,460 

 miles, or 83 per cent, are operated by the three systems 

 that have treating plants within the State. In equip- 

 ment and management, these plants are among the best, 

 and have a combined capacity of over 7,000 ties per 

 day, or upwards of 2,000,000 a year. Incidentally, their 

 geographical distribution, at north central, west central, 

 and southeast points, is admirable for handling the tie 

 products and meeting the timber preserving require- 

 ments of the State. Scarcity of tie cutters during the 

 war period reduced the supply of ties below capacity, but 

 running full time these plants should be able in three 



JAM OF THIRTY THOUSAND TIES BEING DRIVEN DOWN BLACK'S FORK, WYOMING 



Ties constitute in larger measure the treated timber products of Wyoming than of any other< state. The Wyoming ties are mostly lodgepole 

 pine and generally hewed and many thousands of the ties intended for the Nebraska companies are treated at Wyoming plants. 



the Western States except South Dakota, Utah and 

 Nevada, yet more timber is treated than in any Western 

 State except those on the Pacific Coast, and the propor- 

 tion treated is greater than in these. 



A pioneer in wood preservation, the Sheridan treat- 

 ing plant of the Burlington was installed in 1899, at a 

 time when the Southern Pacific was the only other rail- 

 road in America that had a treating plant ; and there were 

 but seven plants owned by railroads when the Union 

 Pacific built its Laramie plant in 1903. A score have 

 been erected by railroads throughout the United States 

 since 1903, including one by the Chicago and North 

 Western at Riverton, Wyoming, in 191 5. 



years to treat the ties required for renewals on all Wyom- 

 ing trackage in a decade, and treat ties more than two- 

 thirds of the time for the lines in other States. As a 

 matter of fact, many thousands of ties for the lines of 

 these companies in Nebraska are treated at the Wyoming 

 plants. 



The Wyoming ties are nearly all lodgepole pine, and 

 mostly hewed. Those from without the State, largely 

 western yellow pine from the Black Hills for the Sheri- 

 dan plant, Douglas fir and western larch from the north- 

 west for the Riverton plant, and Douglas fir for the 

 Laramie plant, are mainly sawed, with the exceotion * 



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