Tie Hack Era
Tie Hacking in the Bighorn National Forest
The railroad tie industry began in the 1860s to support construction of the first transcontinental railroad across southern Wyoming. Tie hacking became a way of life for many, with a specialized vocabulary and tie hack camps resembling small towns with all the comforts of town life. Wyoming’s tie hacking industry was developed in four regions around the state, including the eastern slopes of the Bighorn Mountains.
Tie hacking required three things: hearty workers with broadaxes, suitable stands of timber, and water courses to drive the ties downstream. The railroad required ties to be eight feet long with a width and depth of seven inches. The ideal tree for ties was about eleven inches in diameter at breast height. A tree 16 inches in diameter could yield as many as six ties. Each tie hack was assigned a strip of timber about 200 feet wide and up to one-half mile long. The tie hack first cut an eight-foot wide skid road so the finished tie could be hauled out. Tie hacks began the hacking process by felling a suitable tree with a crosscut saw and then limbing it with a double-bitted ax. The double-bitted ax was exchanged for a broadax, which weighed seven pounds and had a 10- to 12-inch blade. The log’s surfaces were then hewn along the grain of the wood to the final dimensions.
An experienced hack could make up to 25 ties per day. The tie hauler and his team of horses stepped in when the ties were stacked along the haul road. Ties were hauled in the winter and spring when snow cover made hauling easier. Sixteen-foot long sleds, called go-devils, could carry 50 ties per trip. Ties were stacked until the spring thaw.
Most tie cutting areas were laid out around major rivers, where the ties from the smaller tributaries could be driven downstream to shipping points. Sometimes flumes were built to negotiate waterways with steep canyons such as along the Tongue River. The tie driver, called a river rat, was a skilled tie handler who could wade ice cold water over slick rocks. The river rat’s job was to keep the ties moving steadily, avoiding rocks, islands, or other obstructions. Lead gangs worked ahead of the river rats to keep ties from floating into side channels and low spots. Splash dams were also constructed across drainages, shown in the photograph at the top of this page. When the gates were pulled, the rush of released water helped push the ties further down streams.
The first cutting operation in the Bighorns was started in 1891 on Sheep Creek to provide 1.6 million ties for the expansion of the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad. A steam-powered sawmill was built to saw the lumber needed to build a flume down Sheep Creek to transport the ties to the Tongue River. The V-shaped flume was extended from Sheep Creek down Tongue River Canyon. It was estimated that a tie could travel 11 miles to the mouth of the Tongue River Canyon in nine minutes. Three to four flume walkers patrolled the flume watching for log and tie jams.
Main camps and secondary camps were moved as timber became depleted. Camps could include a commissary, office, boardinghouse, barns, cookhouse, blacksmith shop, sawmill, meat house, privies, and root cellar. Some hacks built their own cabins and moved their families there. Numerous fires, lulls in timber contracts, litigation over worker deaths, road disputes with the county, and depletion of timber along the flumes and water ways led to the end of the tie hacking industry in the Bighorn Mountains. The last major tie cutting operation in the Bighorn National Forest started west of Buffalo in late 1925. Operations ended around 1933.
The Wyoming railroad tie industry provided stable employment for hundreds of local residents. The camps required vast quantities of supplies from local ranchers, farmers, and merchants. The tie industry also contributed to the system of mountain roads recreationists enjoy today. The Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Austrian, and German immigrants drawn to hacking brought their cultures, customs, and lifestyles that became part of the overall American fabric.
Because one of the primary duties of the Forest Service is to manage and regulate the use of timber products, the tie industry represents a major chapter in the history of the Bighorn National Forest. Tie hacking’s presence resonates today in the Bighorn National Forest in the eponymous Tie Hack Campground, Tie Hack Reservoir, and Tie Flume Campground.