Railroads Begin Farming Their Own Forests
Facing a national timber shortage, western railroads turn to industrial-scale tree planting to secure a future for their own infrastructure.
The division of forestry is in consultation with three important railway companies—the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul, and the Zanesville Ohio—regarding a contemplated innovation in American railway methods: raising tie and pole timber on a large scale on their non-utilized right-of-way lands. Other large western roads are also interested. This action is due chiefly to the failing natural supply of this material. About one million acres of timber are consumed annually by railroads for repairs, and the increased cost will soon be a serious factor in railroad economy. The Santa Fe line has already planted 1,280 acres in catalpa trees at an expense of $128,000; officials estimate that in ten years the tract will produce $500,000 worth of poles, ties, and posts.
“Having become convinced of the necessity of growing their own timber the railroads naturally wish to take advantage of the assistance offered by the government.”
While this 1900 report focuses on the physical supply chain for railroad ties, it captures an early corporate realization of resource depletion. Today, timber management on this scale is standard practice for large forest products companies, though the tension between railroad rights-of-way and sustainable land use remains a quiet, ongoing subject of local land-use debates in the Inland Northwest.
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