6 BULLETIN 234, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
Table 3. — Annual cut of lodgepole pine for lumber, 1909-1911. 
1909 
1910 
1911 
State. 
Annual cut. 
Annual cut. 
Increase 
over 
previous 
year. 
Annual cut. 
Increase 
over 
previous 
year. 
Board feet. 
11,886,000 
6,730,000 
2,567,000 
1,228,000 
1,322,000 
Board feet. 
13,205,000 
9,572,000 
2,308,000 
934,000 
543,000 
Per cent. 
11.1 
43.7 
17.3 
123.9 
158.9 
Board feet. 
13,294,000 
15,038,000 
3,348,000 
779,000 
535,000 
Per cent. 
0.7 
Color ado!/. 
57.1 
Montana 
40.7 
Idaho 
114.5 
il.5 
Total 
23, 733, 000 
26, 634, 000 
12.2 
33,014,000 
24.0 
i Decrease. 
POSTS AND POLES. 
Large quantities of lodgepole pine are cut for fence posts and rails 
for local use, but at present the species is not generally employed for 
telegraph, telephone, or power line poles. Lodgepole pine, however, is 
in many respects an excellent pole timber. It is straight, with a taper 
of approximately 1 inch in 8 feet, about the same as that of western 
red cedar, and when air dried is 19 per cent stronger at the elastic 
limit and 12 per cent stronger under maximum load than a cedar pole 
of the same circumference at the ground line. The poles must, of 
course, be given a preservative treatment if they are to last any length 
of time. Poles treated with creosote by the open-tank process are 
estimated to have a life of 20 years or more, against 5 years when 
untreated. Even treated lodgepole, however, would be a cheaper 
pole material than untreated western red cedar in central and eastern 
Montana and in many portions of the region between the Rocky 
Mountains and the Mississippi River, owing to its lower stump age 
value and greater accessibility. Table 4 shows the cost of treated 
lodgepole pine, in contrast with that of untreated cedar, for a tele- 
phone line near Butte. 
Table 4. — Comparative cost of treated lodgepole pine and untreated western red cedar 
telephone poles near Butte, Mont. 
Treated 
lodgepole. 1 
Untreated 
cedar. 
Cost per 7-inch, 25-foot pole, f. o.b. Butte 
$0.75 
S^.25 
Cost of treatment 
.60 I 
Cost of hauling and setting 
5.00 ' 5.00 
Total cost in place 
6.33 
222 VTS. 
SO/527 
.458 
7.25 
Life in service 
10 yrs. 
SO. 985 
Annual charge 3 
Annual saving per pole by using lodgepole pine 
i Treated with 4 pounds of creosote per cubic foot; penetration of 1.29 inches. 
8 Estimated. 
s Calculated by the formula— 
r _ RXl Opnx.Op 
l.Opn— 1 
Where r=equivalent annual charge; i?=initial expenditure; .0p=rate of interest: ?i=term of years. 
