UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
Centribution from the Forest Service , 
HENRY S. GRAVES, Forester Wee 
Washington, D. C. Vv _ May 5, 1917 
CROSSTIES PURCHASED AND TREATED IN 1915. 
By Artuur M. McCreicur, Office of Industrial Investigations. 
CONTENTS. 
Crossties purchased, 1915.........------------ 1 RESCRVA GIONS: Ss soe so tos ieee ane oe ee aie Gr 
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 mquiry 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 tne 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 
