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| 'Tie hackers' part of railroad history |
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| Question: My great-grandfather was a "tie hacker" when the railroad was being built through the area. Do you have records on local men who might have been known as "tie hackers?" |
| Answer: The museum does not have records of "tie hackers" for this area, but it was a well known occupation for many men, not only in Arkansas but in many parts of the United States. "Tie hacker" is a slang term for a person who made railroad ties. Since the mid-1800s, tie hacking was a source of income for those living near virgin timber, so most certainly, Boone and Searcy counties had their share of tie hackers. |
| When building the transcontinental railroad, stone blocks were first used on which to mount rails, but when they ran out of stone blocks, wood was substituted. It was immediately noticed wood ties provided a smoother ride, so this probably helped usher in tie hacking. Wooded ties were called "sleepers" but the hackers could not be described as "sleepers," since making ties required a strong back, sharp eye and steady hand. |
| Tie hackers depended on specialized tools for the work, including a two-man cross-cut saw, a double bit axe, a broad axe, a measuring device called a tie scantling, a mule for skidding logs, and coal oil for removing resin for saw blades. Railroad ties were 8 feet, 6 inches long and until the 1940s, most ties were hand hewed. |
| In the 1900s and 1920s, there was a good demand for ties, since a lot of building and repairing of the railroads was going on. My uncles, Jake Culbert and Wilford Adams, were tie hackers. Usually, they paid 5 cents for the tree used to make a tie, then after it was hewed and hauled to Leslie, they received 35 cents for the tie. They made three sizes of ties, and all had to be made of white oak. This gave them much needed cash to purchase things at the store that they could not raise or make at home - but most of all, it was a job to support their family. |
| Searching the old files at Jonesboro, I came across a story about the town of Bono. It seems that Alfred Bonner, a well-to-do farmer, owned land on the right of way and offered to donate it for a railroad station and post office if the town was named after him. Since Bonner also owned a good deal of virgin timber land in the Cache River Valley, he realized the importance of locating the railroad station in the area. Here is the catch: Bonner worked as a "tie hacker." So he not only made money cutting ties, he ended up having the town of Bonnerville named in his honor. He's probably turning over in his grave now, since the name of the town was changed to Bono in 1884. |
| Scandinavian immigrants often populated railroad camps, even some in this area, as the rails were laid. As lines moved on west, hackers set up cabins and formed small towns of their own. Remnants of tie hackers' cabins can still be seen up in Wyoming's Union Pass area along Warm Springs Creek. Another cabin restoration has taken place near Bear River in Wasatch Cache National Forest in Utah. Both are neat places to visit. |
| If you have a relative who worked as a tie hacker, share the story with the Heritage Museum. The museum does not receive Federal or state funding, and will not receive direct funding from the local hamburger-motel tax revenue for 2006. Your support is needed and appreciated as we strive to preserve the history of Boone County and its people. |
| Located on the corner of South Cherry and Central, the museum is open only on Thursday from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Beginning March 1, the museum will be open Monday through Friday. Volunteers are needed during the summer. If you have three hours a week to spare, we would love to have you as a museum volunteer! |
| This column appears Fridays in the Harrison Daily Times. Mail questions to Boone County Heritage Museum, P. O. Box 1094, Harrison, AR 72601. Marilyn Smith can be contacted at bchm@windstream.net |
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