Wooden Cross-Ties Introduced bv Chance

Washington, July 30.-The indignation aroused in the woods industries by the suggestion of Congressman Leonidas C. Dyer, of St. Louis, that steps should be taken to substitute cross-ties of other materials for the familiar wood sleeper of the railways of the world, gives timeliness to a reminder by the Raihvay Age (on the authority of the Pennsylvania Railway) that rails were not supported on wood ties in the first years of railroading.

An ancient piece of railway track at Jamesburg, N. J., on what is now part of the Pennsylvania System, but was originally the Camden and Amboy-the first railroad providing service between New York and Philadelphiashows that in 1831 rails were laid on blocks of stone irnbedded in the ground. These slabs or blocks did not connect the rails, but each rail had its own row of supports. The use of wood ties first came in, it is believed, on this piece of railway because of the temporary failure of the prison authorities at Sing Sing, New York, to deliver the supporting stone blocks on time at a point near South Amboy. As an expedient measure, the workmen put down pieces of timber which reached from rail to rail and were fastened to the rails by spikes merely as a makeshift. These wooden sleepers turned out to be so much more satisfactory than the stone blocks that thqy were not removed -and the practice of using wooden cross-ties was taken up by railroaders all over the world.

While the rails of the first railways were laid on stone blocks which subsequently gave way to wooden cross-ties, the history of rails is just the reverse as they were at

Salesman On Vacation

E. G. Davis, of the Chas. R. McCormick Lumber Co., San Francisco, is spending a vacation in the Northwest. He will also visit the company's mills at St. Helens, Ore., Port Ludlow and Port Gamble. Wash., and the Portland and Seattle offices.

Jack Rea Visits San Francisco

Jack Rea, W. R. Chamberlin & Co., Los Angeles, was a recent San Francisco visitor where he spent a few days at the company's San Francisco office'

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first of timber surfaced with iron straps. It is said that Robert L. Stevenson, president of the Camden & Amboy, who gave the railroad world the idea of the wooden tie, was the first to design and introduce the T rail, which soon became the standard metal rail of the world.

There are about one billion wood ties in place on the 350,000 miles of railway track in the United States, and replacement is now proceeding at the rate of about 8O million ties a year; it was formerly much larger, but the in-creasing excellence of the preservative treatment of timber is lengthening the life of the wooden tie to 35 years. Ever since 1848 railway engineers have been searching for a satisfactory substitute for the wooden tie, but none has yet been found that satisfies all the requirements, from resiliency to expense. A wooden tie treated to last 35 years costs only $1.75. These ties are largely produced from farm wood lots and cut-over forest areas, being largely from volunteer second growth timber. They are a source of cash revenue to farmers and small woods operators all over the wooded portions of the United States, the average length of haul of a tie from the point of production to the right of way of the purchasing railway being only 5O miles. Forestry authorities say that the production and utilization of the wood tie fits admirably into forestry practices as it provides a market for ,trees that may be inferior for other purposes, as well as utilizing the waste from lumber manufacture. In these ways tie production helps to swell the reveriues that are necessary to make forest management profitable.

vr'. G. KAHMAN VISITS LOS ANGELES

W. G. Kahman, McCloud River Lumber Co., San Francisco, was a Los Angeles visitor during the past week. Together with L. S. Turnbull, of Los Angeles, the company's Southern California and Arizona representative. they called on the trade.

Change Of Office

MacDonald-Harrington, Ltd., have moved their Los Angeles office from 603 to 624 Petroleum Securities Building. Their telephone number is WEstmore 5931.

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