Creosote Council Blog
What Is Coal-Tar Creosote Used in Wooden Infrastructure?
“Creosote” Used in Wood Preservation, Explained In the United States, the term “creosote” is pretty confusing. There are many substances referred to as “creosote,” which makes it hard to figure out which type has been used for over a hundred years to preserve wood infrastructure. Sometimes the type of creosote used in wood preservation is called “coal-tar creosote” to indicate that it’s formed by burning coal. Another common description, “coal-tar distillate,” is slightly more specific and...
Railways and Crossties Connect Baseball and Fruit to America
By the early 20th century, a shared national identity was emerging in America. Fresh fruit and baseball would become a part of this new reality, fueled by the railroads and crossties that increasingly connected Florida to the rest of the nation. In the first half of the 19th century, commodities and experiences in the United States were localized, varying greatly from town to town and state to state. But localization was not to last, as newly minted railroads and their creosote-treated...
Coal-tar Creosote Puts Trees to Work, Bringing Energy and the Internet to Millions
Believe it or not, there is an internet meme about utility poles. It “went viral” in 2018 because it was both funny and thought-provoking. It was just a thought posted in a Reddit forum, lacking any visuals: “Telephone poles are trees that cleaned up and got a job.” It has received over 40 thousand up-votes, the Reddit equivalent of “likes”. And what a job they do! To think that people found a way to capitalize on all the time and energy trees have already spent becoming large...
New Jersey’s “Ghost Tracks” Crossties Tell the Story of America’s First Railroads
Every good “ghost story” tells the life story of the person whose soul is stuck between this life and the after-life. The audience learns his or her trials and tribulations, and usually what “unresolved issues” are keeping the spirit circling its childhood home. The best stories actually help the ghost right its wrongs or otherwise find closure, allowing it to graduate to a peaceful repose. New Jersey: The Land of North America’s First Railroad The “Ghost Tracks” of New Jersey’s Cape May...
Canada’s Grand Trunk Railway: Unifying People and Building Economies
The construction of railway systems that could withstand the severe northern climate came at a pivotal point in Canada’s history and played an important role in fostering Canadian unification and independence from Britain. Entrepreneurial drive, technological developments, and wood preservation techniques were crucial to these developments. The Emergence of Modern Canada: From the Atlantic to the Midwest In response to political uprisings in the 1830s, leaders of British North America took...