In Minnesota and Montana, the act of hand hewing railroad ties was referred
to as "hacking ties."  Generally, this involved using a broad-axe or an adze
to flatten at least one side (usually two opposite sides) of a log.  Some
men did it all with a regular two-bitted axe.  It would have been a rare
woman, indeed, to do that work in the first half of the 20th century.
Hacking generally required the woodsman to fell the timber first and then
hack out the tie.  (It sounds a bit like the old recipe for hasenpfeffer,
doesn't it?  First catch your rabbit....)

Mike Poston
Rockville, Maryland

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