How Much Wood Could a Woodburner Burn If...

I was re-reading a book on the American Locomotive and ran into the amount of wood the railroads were using back in the mid to late 1800s.

Cordwood fuel usage in the US, back in the 1800's is mind boggling. Forests in the east were especially hard hit According to The American Locomotive by John White, the wood consumed by the railroads alone, was beyond comprehension. Starting around 1860, coal was used more and more, so the need for wood dropped off.

Year Cords of wood consumed in a year (Cord = 4' x 4' x 8' stacked)
1840; 392,000
1850; 1,260,000
1860; 3,780,000
1870; 3,640,000
1880; 1,388,000

To put that in perspective, for around 15 years, the railroads burned a pile of wood 100 feet tall, 100 feet wide and 84.84 miles long, EACH YEAR! This is figuring
3,500,000 cords times 4x4x8 = 4,480,000,000 cubic feet of wood
divided by 100'
divided by 100'
divided by 5280' = 84.84 miles

Of course the farmers loved this, they got paid to clear their land of those dang pesky trees. Generally, they were paid from $2 to $4 dollars a cord, split and delivered to trackside.

Mind boggling!

Steve