450 



TIMBER RESOURCES FOR AMERICA'S FUTURE 



Wood piling will continue to be used for the same 

 purposes it now serves. There will probably be 

 some displacement by steel and concrete, and 

 some decline in replacement demand because of the 

 increased use of treated piling. In general, how- 

 ever, demand for piling can be expected to in- 

 crease as nonresidential construction increases. 

 Under this assumption, medium projected demand 

 for piling in 1975 is set at 37 million cubic feet or 

 59 million linear feet. The corresponding lower 

 projections are 30 million cubic feet or 45 million 

 linear feet. About 90 percent is expected to be 

 softwood and 10 percent hardwood. 



Poles 



Wood poles are used prmcipaUy for electric 

 power, telephone, and telegraph lines. The num- 

 ber of poles in service has been increasing and is 

 expected to increase still further. The most 

 rapid increase has been in the power-line field: 



Million poles in 

 service 



Class of utility : ^»S8 i9i9 



Rural electric cooperatives 0.7 15.0 



Other power lines 19.5 32.2 



Telephone lines 21.0 25.2 



Western Union telegraph 8.8 9.7 



Class I railroads 2. 6 4. 2 



Total 52.6 86.3 



The average annual number of poles installed has 

 increased from 3.6 million in the period 1923-29 

 to 6.8 million in 1946-50. In 1952. 6.5 million 

 poles were installed. 



Because of the great mileage of new power lines 

 installed during recent years, the recent trend in 

 the number of poles installed annually is not con- 

 sidered a very reliable indicator of what future 

 demand might be. However, in view of antici- 

 pated increases in population and gross national 

 product, it seems logical to expect that it will be 

 necessary to install a considerable mileage of new 

 lines each year. Assuming that new lines being 

 constructed will require an average of 2 million 

 poles annually and that there will be 140 million 

 poles in service in 1975 with an average service 

 life of about 30 A^ears, medium projected demand 

 for poles in 1975 amounts to 6.5 million poles. 

 (The number would provide 4.5 million poles for 

 replacements and 2 million for new lines.) Lower 

 projected demand is estimated at 4.9 million. 

 Nearly all poles used in the future will probably 

 be softwoods. 



Fence Posts 



Wood fence posts are used chiefly in farm, fences. 

 Use in safety barricades on highways is an im- 

 portant secondary source of demand. Consump- 

 tion has declined sharply in the past 35 yeai*s 

 according to Forest Service estimates: 



Posts 



used 



(.millions) 



1920 900 



1929 400 



1937 475 



1945 250 



1952 306 



The decline in use of fence posts has resulted 

 partly from greater use of steel and concrete posts, 

 and partly from increased use of wood preserva- 

 tives. Farm abandonment, farm consolidation, 

 and decline in use of horses on farms are addi- 

 tional factors that have tended to reduce post 

 consumption. The influence of such factors is 

 currently being partially offset by farm reorgan- 

 ization for soil conservation, more intensive pas- 

 ture management, rangeland improvement, and 

 new highway construction. 



Medium projected demand for fence posts in 

 1975 is estimated at 400 million pieces or about 31 

 percent more than consumption in 1952. I^ower 

 projected demand is judged to be 337 million. 

 Of these totals, about 35 percent may be softwoods 

 and 65 percent hardwoods. 



Hewn Ties 



The hewn-tie portion of tie production has de- 

 creased ver}' rapidly in the past 50 years. Since 

 1947 the number of hewn ties reported treated 

 has decreased from 12.7 million to 2.0 million in 

 1955. With the production of hewn ties already 

 down to an estimated 2.5 million in 1955, it can 

 be expected that production of hewn ties will 

 have ceased entirely before 1975 and that all 

 crossties will be of the sawed variety. 



Round Mine Timbers 



Trends in consumption of round mine timbers 

 and factors affecting consumption are the same as 

 those discussed previously in connection with lum- 

 ber used in mining construction. Medium pro- 

 jected demand for round mine timbers is esti- 

 mated at 105 million cubic feet in 1975, or 30 

 percent above the estimated consumption of 81 

 million cubic feet in 1952. Lower projected de- 

 mand is estimated at 87 million cubic feet in 1975. 



Other Industrial Wood 



An estimated 227 million cubic feet of timber 

 were used in 1952 for a wide variety of products 

 such as charcoal and other wood distillation prod- 

 ucts, spools, dowels and other turned products, 

 shingles, excelsior, sporting goods, smelter poles, 

 farm poles, and round and split farm timber. 

 (Not included in these estimates are substantial 

 quantities of dead chestnut wood used for tannin 

 extract and of pine stumps used for naval stores.) 



Past trends in consumption have been variable. 

 Use of wood shingles, excelsior, and charcoal has 



