UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



- jW| BULLETIN No. 549 Jig)! 



3Sk5^!4l^? Contribution from the Forest Service n§u£!>*l!ifcE? 



HENRY S. GRAVES, Forester 



jS^f^'^Lru 



Washington, D. C. T May 5, 1917 



CROSSTIES PURCHASED AND TREATED IN 1915. 



By Arthur M. McCreight, Office of Industrial Investigations. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. | Page. 



Crossties purchased, 1915 1 | Preservation 6 



CROSSTIES PURCHASED, 1915. 



Purchases of crossties were smaller in 1915 than in other years. 

 The total number bought by all classes of purchasers was approxi- 

 mately 121,402,611. The inquiry covered steam railroads, electric 

 railways, and light, heat, and power companies. No attempt was 

 made to determine the prices paid for crossties, or the number of ties 

 laid in new track, or to show separately the number of hewed and 

 sawed ties purchased. 



The information was obtained by the Forest Service entirely by 

 means of correspondence; and the total number of ties reported by 

 the purchasers of all classes who sent the information requested was 

 97,106,651. The estimated total of all purchases was obtained in 

 the following manner: The actual number reported by steam rail- 

 roads was 88,498,655. The mileage of roads so reporting amounted 

 to 78.46 per cent of the total mileage of the country. Assuming 

 that the nonreporting roads made purchases in proportion to their 

 mileage, or 24,295,960 ties, the total for all steam railroads amounted 

 to 112,794,615. To this is added the number purchased by electric 

 railways and light, heat, and power companies, or 8,607,996, and the 

 grand total for 1915 is estimated to be 121,402,611. 



Table 1 shows the number of crossties purchased each year from 

 1907 to 1911, and for the year 1915, classified according to kinds of 

 wood and arranged in the order of number purchased during 1915. 

 The smallest number of ties reported purchased for any year since 

 1907 was in 1915. The figures in the table for 1911 and previous 

 years were taken from reports prepared in cooperation with the 

 Bureau of the Census. Statistics were not obtained for the years 

 1912, 1913, and 1914. 



88010°— Bull. 549—17 



