Stathi -

I have heard more about the contracting for ties from individual parties
than from the railroads per say.

I do know that when the USFS  began to give permits for that kind of
harvesting, the hackers were given a fixed height, e.g. 18 inches or so ,
above the ground that was to be the height of the remaining stumps.

A large field of stumps like this of a fairly fixed height could indicate a
tie-hack operation.  I don't think you find a uniformity like that in
typical logging efforts where massive numbers, and a variety of tree types
and sizes, were taken.

Plus, tie hackers are only going to be taking trees of a certain size
anyway, as they were felled in winter, stacked and stored on-site, and then
typically floated down steams with the spring run-off.  Lots of smallish
stumps might be indicative.

Carl Barna
Lakewood, CO