SUMMARY OF CORRESPONDENCE WITH RAILROAD OFFICERS. 
During the year 1886 a circular was directed to railroad companies, chiefly those 
located in the western part of the country, for the purpose of obtaining information 
in regard to the consumption of timber for the construction of their roads, the ex- 
tent to which they were engaged in the cultivation of timber for railroad building, 
or in the planting of trees for wind-breaks and as a protection from snow-drifts ; 
and, in general, as to the prospect of an adequate supply of timber for railroad pur- 
poses in the future. 
Replies to the circular were received from the following companies, thirty-five in 
all, viz: Atlantic and Pacific (New Mexico) ; Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Northern; 
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy ; Chicago and Alton ; Chicago and Eastern Illinois; 
Chicago and Northwestern ; Chicago, Saint Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha; Central 
Iowa; Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Saint Louis and Chicago; Cincinnati, Wabash and 
Michigan ; Denver and Rio Grande ; Detroit, Lansing and Northern ; Hannibal and 
Saint Joseph ; Illinois Central ; International and Great Northern ; Kansas City, Fort 
Scott and Gulf; Little Rock, Mississippi River and Texas; Louisville and Nashville ; 
Louisville, New Orleans and Texas ; Louisville, New Albany and Chicago ; Michigan 
Central; Missouri Pacific; Mobile and Ohio; Nashville, Chattanooga and Saint 
Louis; New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio; Northern Pacific; Pennsylvania Rail- 
road ; Pensacola and Atlantic ; Pittsburg, Cincinnati and Saint Louis ; Saint Louis, 
Alton and Terre Haute ; Saint Louis and San Francisco; Southern Pacific; Terre 
Haute and Indianapolis; Union Pacific ; Wabash, Saint Louis and Pacific. 
These roads have 45,787 miles of track in operation. In their construction 16,668,423 
ties have been used, at an average cost of 35.6 cents each. 
The average number of new ties required annually for each mile, to replace decayed 
ones, is 365 ; the average duration of ties is 7.2 years. 
To the question, " Has your road made any efforts or experiments in timber culture ? " 
ten of the companies reply affirmatively. 
The Illinois Central Company report that they planted some Larches in 1872, that 
they gave them very little attention, and the greater portion of them died. 
The Kansas City, Fort Scott and Gulf Railroad Company are distinguished above 
all other railroad companies of the country for the extent and systematic manner in 
which they have engaged in tree-planting. A full account of their plantation is 
given elsewhere in reports from this division. 
The Northern Pacific Railroad Company report that experiments have been made 
with Box-Elder, Cottonwood, Ash, and Willow, but do not give the result. 
The Burlington and Missouri River Railroad Company have planted some timber 
trees, chiefly for protection from snow-drifts in cuts. The trees planted were Honey 
Locust, Cottonwood, Box-Elder, Maple, Ash, Willow, and some evergreens. Wher- 
ever the trees were properly cared for they have grown well. In some places they 
have been injured by fire. 
The Atchison, Topeka and Santa F6 Company report as follows : 
" About the time of the construction of our line, in 1870-'72, in the State of Kansas, 
four or five experimental nurseries or plots of ground, planted with young trees, were 
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