Show POLE preservation washington oct IS the locomotive out of consideration a more prominent i no asen thas taken development of 0 inthe anthe material place the hocky mountain region than the telegraph le graph improvements anil and the te tel telephone phone prove ments in overland transports tion furnished by steam roads and in rapid communication made possible wire for or delivery dellver 3 by the use of 0 the hand in hand ot of raes messages sages have gone in anah making ing the great west thoroughly accessible and in hastening development the important r seldom realizes A person erson part which tile the telephone and telegraph play in his daily life and lew few know the enormous ous amount of capital invested and material that Is requires required to construct and maintain the extensive lines thirty million poles are arc used in the united states on oil SO miles of telephone and telegraph lines this does doer not include the large number of cf poles which are required by the clec electric lighting and transportation companies most ot of the poles in use are cedar but throughout this rocky mountain region this Is not available and douglas fir is substituted douglas lir fir while not so durable as cedar Is much more lasting than the other available timbers that its use has been widely extended ks As the telephone and telegraph lines increased to meet the demands of business brought about by the growth of railroads and towns it became necessary to cut large acres ot of timber lands to supply the poles holding the wires ires for a long time timber was so plentiful that suitable poles conlie be easily obtained without out going far from the th elines lines under construction now however the considerable distance that the poles must be transported in many cases and the general scarcity of timber has tended to raise the cost consequently ly pole users have been compelled to find cheaper more abundant timber to replace the expensive douglas fir or discover some inexpensive way of making it last longer by fighting off deny decay tha decay of wood is caused by the action of low forms of plant life called fun bungle gle and bacteria bac ieria these live upon the wood and in tinie time completely destroy it in order to grow they require a sufficient amount of heat air moisture and food all these requirements are met in most parts of the united states when the pole is set however air and moisture gln gen brally exist in requisite amounts only in that portion of the role pole near the surface of the ground the portion of the pole buried several feet underground does not them with the necessary ajr air while that part above the ground caes contains insufficiently jol sture for their development it if the part near the ground line can be protected from attack the life of me pole can be materially increased many methods have been tried at various times to protect this vital part of the pole most host of those con in applying oils or paint or similar substances with a brush to the butt with a few exceptions they have been largely abandoned as not giving the proper protection the sub substance applied remained almost entirely upon the surface of the wood and as a result seasoning checks and wind shakes ruptured the coating and exposed the untreated wood to attack by fungi which soon de destroyed destroys the pole the forest service of the united states department departs nt 0 of agriculture has spent considerable time in developing a method by chich the butts of poles can be successfully and econ economically omi cally preserved against decay with a consequent increase in the life of the whole pole this consists in immersing them in alternate baths of hot and cold preservative such as creosote or zinc chloride the poles are placed place in a tank of ilat preservative to a depth of one foot above the ground line when set and kept there for a few bourek hours depin depending ding upon the species and condition of the timber the pole is then placed in a bath of 0 cold preservative for a short period which completes the treatment when the wood is heated in the first bath the air and r moisture nol sture in the wood cells and intercellular spaces is expanded and some of it is driven out upon immersions in the cold preservatives the difference e in temperature causes the expanded air and moisture to contract thus forming a partial i vacuum which causes the oil to penetrate the wood to the desired depth the wood to be treated should be air seasoned douglas fir is a dense timber and I 1 the heartwood is very difficult to penetrate successfully with preservative but usually a pole has a zone of sapwood hichi vt Is thick enough and can be impregnated with enough preservative to greatly increase the natural life of the pole however in the rocky mountain afountain region it is not necessary to confine attention to douglas fir large supplies of lodgepole lod depole pine are available this is call called ed an interior inferior timber because it as not as durable when placed in the ground as the more le ie douglas fir lodgepole pine is cheaper than douglas fir is lighter and therefore easler easier to transport and embodies all of the requisites of an ideal pole timber with the one e exception of susceptibility to rapid decay this however can be easily overcome by a proper preservative treatment the forus I orus nature of the it aas casuto to arelt treat hv by tile the injection gnjec tin ofa of a proper amount of preservative I 1 serva tive a lodged lodgepole iole pine pole can be made to last twenty years or more at a small cost there are large areas of lodgepole pine in which the frees have been fire or insect killed A great deal of timber omber has been standing in this condition for a longtime long time it is for or the e most part sound and exceptionally well seasoned and consequently in excellent condition for preservative treatment it can be secured at a lower price than green timber of the same species and for pole purposes Is just as goodie good it not better when properly treated with wood preservative it can be employed for poles in lessening the drain upon the more expensive species such as douglas fir the government considers the investigation vesti gation in the preservative treatment of timber of such importance that tile the business of one branch ot of a bureau in the department of agriculture the office of wood preservation in the forest service is given over entirely to the work of experiments peri ments in operation cooperation co with railroad companies mining corporations and individuals in prolonging the life ot of rial road ties mine props umber timber fence posts and transmission poles advice and practical assistance la Is furnished all who request this advice of the forrester the leng thine thing ot of life of timber means the saving of thousands of dollars annually through doing away with the heavy expense ot of labor and cost of material for renewals 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