THE EARLY LOGGER IN THE SIERRAS 



819 



snow. The sight is one that com- 

 paratively few have seen. Through 

 the average depth of snow the engine 

 would force its way about twenty feet 

 and then stick, unable to move in 

 either direction. Each time she would 

 have to be dug out until the drive 

 wheels were free to move again. 

 To assist in pulling the engine 

 free the "Two Spot" coupled 

 on each time from behind. 

 Backing up again, the same 

 performance was repeated and 

 the work continued for days 

 and weeks until miles of road 

 had been opened at an aver- 

 age cost of $225.00 per mile. 

 This work merely rendered 

 the forest accessible, while the 

 task yet remained of exca- 

 vating the camps and re- 

 constructing buildings whose 

 strength had succumbed to the 

 extreme weight of the snow. 

 Upon abandoning camps be- 

 fore the winter, all water pipes 

 had been drained; consequent- 

 ly, the problem of immediate 

 water supply was simple al- 

 though the pipes lay buried 

 deep in the snow. 



Four weeks of preparatory 

 work being completed, the 

 first train of logs finally left 

 for the mill ; but, some of them 

 never reached their intended 

 destination. At Kaiser Creek 

 the rails lead onto a high 

 curved trestle over a rushing 

 mountain stream. As the cars 

 ran onto the bridge, even 

 slowly, the inside batter-post 

 of one of the bents sagged 

 under the old and familiar 

 yet new and unaccustomed 

 weight. The bridge inspect- 

 ing crew had failed to de- 

 tect what the winter had done to 

 this particular mudsill and, as the 

 result, the cars leaned, gently at first, 

 inward ; there was a spurt of steam from 

 the "Five Spot" as her driver applied 

 the brakes, a straining of log chains, a 



shout from the "brakey" as he jumped 

 to avoid the fall; and five cars of logs 

 crashed down into the canyon below. 

 Several such accidents occurred, and 

 not without the loss of a few lives, 

 before the road was entirely reliable. 

 Logging throughout the summer must 



Down Grade Wini .\ IIk.wy Load u. Lu.m.i,;!;. 



bear its share of this preparatory ex- 

 pense; and the cost of logging thus 

 necessarily raised results, usually, in an 

 increase in the selling price of lumber 

 produced. 



Wireless for Fighting Fires 



Wireless telegraphy is being used in Canada in reporting on forest fires. 



