4 BULLETIN" 234, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



USES. 



MINE TIMBERS AND CONVERTER POLES. 



In Montana lodgepole pine is used mainly for mine timbers. 

 Butte offers the greatest single market for the wood to be found 

 anywhere, consuming annually about 250,000 lodgepole-pine stulls, 

 scaling some 10,000,000 board feet, and 130,000 lagging poles. The 

 stulls vary in length from 14 to 16 feet, and in diameter from 6 to 

 23 inches. The lagging poles are 16 feet long, with a diameter of only 

 3 or 4 inches. 



Butte consumes annually about 95,000,000 board feet of timber 

 of all kinds, of which nearly 90 per cent is sawed yellow pine, fir, and 

 larch (Larix occidentalis) , the remainder being made up largely of 

 the round lodgepole-pine timbers mentioned in the preceding para- 

 graph. Wherever practicable mine operators are now replacing the 

 sawed timber with lodgepole-pine timber in the round for the sake of 

 economy. Sawed timber at Butte costs approximately $18 per 

 thousand board feet, while an equivalent amount of lodgepole pine, 

 from the standpoint of strength, can be delivered there for $8.50. 

 Round lodgepole-pine timber, moreover, is "framed" by machinery, 

 while the sawed timber must usually be framed by hand, a more ex- 

 pensive process. 



In addition to the metal mines, the coal mines of Montana, Wyo- 

 ming, and Colorado consume large quantities of lodgepole pine in the 

 round, and this market is steadily growing. Still another market is 

 offered by the smelters at Anaconda and Great Falls, which use an- 

 nually about 50,000 converter poles, from 24 to 30 feet long and from 

 3 to 5 inches in diameter, in the final process of deoxidizing the 

 matte. 



RAILWAY TIES. 



Lodgepole pine has been used for crossties ever since the first 

 transcontinental railroad was built across the Rocky Mountains. 

 Its short life in service under natural conditions, however, does not 

 recommend it to the railroads as a tie material unless it can be 

 treated with preservatives. At present lodgepole pine is not much 

 used for ties in Montana, because the treating plants maintained by 

 the Great Northern and Northern Pacific Railroads are both located 

 in the western part of the State, where large quantities of Douglas fir 

 and larch are available. As the supply of these woods is reduced, 

 however, it is likely that lodgepole pine will find a much wider use 

 in Montana as a tie material. 



In Wyoming lodgepole pine is used in considerable quantities for 

 crossties, two of the transcontinental railroads maintaining large 

 treating plants at Laramie and Sheridan, respectively, at the first 



