THE SPRAG INDUSTRY OF EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA 



143 



SPRAG CUTTERS AND A PILE OF SPRAGS. 



of sprags is restricted is the result of 

 the necessity for strong and durable 

 sprags. The oaks and maple are the 

 species mostly used, the chestnut being 

 excluded entirely. No softwoods are 

 admitted and green timber is generally 

 specified. However, in this respect, the 

 companies are very lenient upon in- 

 spection and rightly so, as will be shown 

 later. 



As said before, the sprag industry is 

 not of large size, and no doubt, repre- 

 sents a very small fraction of the entire 

 wood product of the State. During the 

 year 1912. the Delaware, Lackawanna 

 and Western Railroad used 350,000 in 

 their collieries. This represents a volume 

 of 30,000 cubic feet, or 360,000 board 

 feet of timber used in the collieries of 

 one company for the purpose. It is 

 estimated that about 6,000,000 sprags 

 are used annually in the anthracite 

 regions of Pennsylvania. Yet, since it 

 is a product that may be made of what 

 otherwise would be considered waste, it 

 deserves attention in that such attention 

 may be the means leading to the utili- 

 zation of so-called waste for the purpose 

 and not the oak and maple coppice of 

 pole size from which almost the entire 

 output is obtained at the present time. 



An instance of such action has been 



observed recently. That section of 

 northeastern Pennsylvania from which 

 the anthracite mining regions draw a 

 large part of their mine supply timber is 

 divided into many units of ownership. 

 Since the region is mainly a timber 

 region, the individual owner depends 

 largely on his standing timber for the 

 greater part of his earnings. In view 

 of the instance mentioned above, the 

 owner advanced to that stage of forest 

 mismanagement when his merchantable 

 timber down to mine-tie size was cut. 

 However, a thrifty stand of oak and 

 maple coppice of twenty years' growth 

 remained on the ground. The best of 

 this growth was cut for sprag timber and 

 thereby left a residue of poor and 

 thriftless stuff to form the future forest. 

 On a certain tract in Monroe County 

 which is covered with a twenty year 

 coppice growth of chestnut and oak 

 in equal proportion as to density and 

 which is being cut for the purpose of 

 making sprags, the writer paced off 

 three areas of one-quarter acre each. 

 The poles of sufficient size to make 

 sprags were counted on each area, and 

 the following is the result : 



1st area 80 poles average 4 sprags each. 320 sprags 

 2d area 78 poles average 4 sprags each, 312 sprags 

 3d area 65 poles average 4 sprags each, 260 sprags 



