36. 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



\ :;(8t!WsamaiiBTO;t)tmi)tw!TOiTOi:)i^^ 



Clubs and Associations 



Pacific Logging Congress 



Tlio fifth aouual meeting of the I'acific Lugging (Jougress was belt] iu 

 Spokane. Wash.. Sept. 24-27. A program of unusual interest was carried 

 out, ending with a banquet and a visit to the lumber camps of the 

 Potlatch Lumber Company, whicb carries on some of the largest opera- 

 tions in the West. 



The proceedings of tbe congress w<'re permeated with the progressive 

 spirit of the western country where things are done on a big scale and 

 by big men. Problems there are worked out to fit particular conditions. 

 and in most cases results would not fit in eastern logging operations. 

 Trees are large oht there, and logs are heavy. The cutting, trans- 

 portation, and other handling from the forest to tbe mill, are carried 

 on in western ways, and the purpose of the congress was to discuss old 

 methods and new and to take advantage of whatever promises improve- 

 ment in present methods. Tliat was tbe keynote of the meeting, — 

 trying out whatever promised to give better results. 



Judson F. Clark explained to the congress the merits o£ a new 

 timber scale which might pri>perly be called a measuring machine for 

 computing quickly tbe contents of a standing tree. It was claimed 

 that cruising can be done much more expeditiously and correctly than by 

 the old method of measuring the tree breast bigb and guessing at the 

 top diameter. 



Tbe question of electrical logging machinery was discussed by a 

 number of persons, after an opening paper on the subject by E. F. 

 Whitney, who reviewed progress in that field of mechanics. The prob- 

 lems, of course, resolved themselves into tbe methods of applying power 

 at the points where it is needed. This involves the use of various 

 machines, and to some extent it was a debate as to what will give best 

 results. 



Cable trauiroads and aerial skidding, — relate^ subjects but involvins 

 different problems and calling for plants of different kinds, — were 

 introduced for consideration in papers read by John A. McDougall and 

 Lewis T. Mays. A paragraph from tbe address of the latter contains some 

 interesting history. He says : 



"Many of you are no doubt familiar with tbe aerial tramway as it 

 has been designed for the transportation of ores and other similar products 

 in mountainous districts, but you have little thought that this same idea 

 and same system could be as successfully used to transport your logs from 

 the T\-oods to the railroad and in some cases direct to tbe mill. For 

 many years aerial tramways have been extensively used in carrying sawed 

 lumber in small quantities, but it has been only a matter of about five 

 years that the aerial tramway has been seriously considered as a help to 

 the logging industry. Usually the severe requirements in the logging 

 camp have been considered to be a little beyond the field of aerial cable, 

 but already, logs live feet In diameter and from sixteen to fifty feet 

 in length are being satisfactorily conveyed a distance of five and a half 

 miles by the means of aerial tramways. Kifferent installations vary onl.v 

 in detail, the general results and finished equipment being quite uniform. 

 But it would perhaps not be amiss to mention in passing a tew of the 

 aerial logging tramways in operation in various parts of the world. 

 At Kolozsvar, Hungary, there is a logging tramway 7V2 miles long. 

 which serves two purposes : one of bringing tbe logs to the sawmills, and 

 the other of conveying the sawed material to the shipping point. A 

 line built near Podul Jloie in Rouniania is over 10^ miles long: another 

 installed for the Promelna Bank in Belgrade is about 3?i miles long, 

 with a fall of nearly half a mile, and runs from a plateau down a 

 steep mountain side to a river. This line is of particular interest, due 

 to tbe fact that the ground is particularly rugged : and iu order to 

 avoid sharp, vertical angles, tunnels were made through tbe rocky ridges." 



Camp building and sanitation were considered to be very important 

 details 01 successful logging. Tbe fact is now generall.v recognized that 

 men must be iu good health and must be comfortably housed and must 

 be made to feel not only comfortable but respectable in order to attain 

 the highest efficiency. Their food and the manner in whicb it is prepared 

 is given the most careful! attention. Tbe kinds of houses provided 

 for them and the beds in which they sleep are looked after in progressive 

 logging camps, and it is said that investments judiciotisly made to better 

 camp conditions pay good profits. 



The welfare work of the Y. M. C. A. came in for much praise. The 

 standard of large camps was improved by tbe reading rooms, lectures, and 

 healthful amusements and means of recreation. The operators in instances 

 referred to found crews much more reliable, better satisfied, and more 

 eflBcient, and it was claimed that while the men received their benefits In 

 better conditions, tbe proprietors also received theirs in the form of 

 better dividends. 



The forestry side of the business was presented in two addresses, one by 

 H. It. Mi'Millan, chief forester of British Columbia, the other by F. A. 

 Silcox of the United States Forest Service, Each described tbe prob- 

 lems and policies involved in managing and putting on tbe market titnber 

 from government lands. 



Among the other topics presented by formal papers should be Included 

 "The Tree Faller," by H. Ii. Langille. This is a machine, operated by 



a powerful screw, for forcing trees to fall iu directions different from 

 their natural lean. 



Practical suggestions for logging steep hillsides were offered by H. W. 

 Sessoms. Forest protection against fire was the subject of E. T. Allen's 

 paper. He advocated organized patrol, in which the individual, the 

 corporation, county, state, and nation should cooperate according to plans 

 worked out in advance where it was practicable to do so. 



Details in handling cars, particularly where grades are considerable, 

 were explained by H. J. liobinsou under tbe title "Handling Air." The 

 comparative merits of different types of boib'rs was another topic to 

 which considerable attention was given, as was also the subject of 

 fuel for logging boilers. 



Southern Logging Meeting 



The Southern l.oggiug Association met in New Orleans Sept. 29 for a 

 two-days" session, with a program carefully prepared for practical work. 

 The membership of the association consists of mill owners, timber owners, 

 general superintendents, managers, and contractors. The discussions were 

 directed toward tbe matter of greater eflncieney, which includes more work 

 for the same money or the same work for less money. Two Yale profes- 

 sors were among tbe speakers, and an address was made by a Y, M. C. A. 

 worker. This was going somewhat outside the customary routine, but a 

 number of operators or expert workers on special lines were on the pro- 

 gram also, and the two days of the session were well filled with valuable 

 suggestions. 



The T. M. C. A. representative was X. ('. Scblichter. secretary of the 

 international committee. Charlotte, N. C, who prefaced his remarks by 

 warning tbe lumbermen that the worst enemies of a sanitary camp were 

 Hies and mosquitoes. One camp had forty-five cases of typhoid fever one 

 year and reduced it to a single case the next year by a generous tise of 

 mosquito netting, supplemented by other sanitary improvements. It was 

 stated that one of the best investments that could be made was well- 

 cooked food for the workers. This suggi'stlon referred particularly to large 

 southern camps where negro laborers are employed. In some camps the 

 negroes do their own cooking, and overload their stomachs with poorly 

 prepared food. They are made stupid and lazy. A great improvement 

 is seen when the food is cooked for them and is prepared in a wholesome 

 manner. 



Belter bathing facilities are advocated, and improved arrangements for 

 caring for those who suffer from accidents, including an operating room 

 in the large camps. 



Professor Herman II. (."hnpman o{ Yale read an exhaustive paper on tht 

 possil)ilities of a second crop of pine on cut-over land in the South. After 

 explaining how this might be ilone. and the time and expense necessary. 

 bis conclusion was that it is usually too large an undertaking for the 

 lumber company. 



"The measures necessary." he says, "to secure reproduction and pro- 

 tection of seedlings would involve a slightly increased expense, would 

 promise no immediate financial return, but would preserve tbe produc- 

 tiveness of the soil by insuring a tlmbi-r crop on land not f,'irmed, and 

 might prove ultimati'ly of great financial value to the land owners when 

 they come to sell these lands. These measures can be urged only as a 

 matter of far-reaching public policy. If timber owners believe that a 

 second growth of seedling pine will be of great benefit to tbe community 

 and stale, it is in their power to secure it on their own lands now at 

 less expense than at any future time or by any other owner, yet such 

 a policy might not be profitable to theii). Since it is possible that these 

 lands may ultimately be used for agriculture, the state government can 

 hardly be justified in any attempt to compel the timberland owners to 

 undertake measures that will assure a permanent forest. States can 

 encourage private efforts at reforestation by proper tax laws and fire 

 protection, or such lands can be acquired by states and reforested at 

 state expense. Along these lini's. and not by arbitrary regulation, progress 

 toward securing new crops of pine must he made." 



A second address was by Kalpb C. Bry,-iut. also a Y'ale professor, on 

 the subject of closer utilizaticui of timbi-r. The usual sources of waste 

 were enumerated, such as high stumps, breakage in felling, crooked and 

 forked trees, abandonment of merchantable tops, and others. Practical 

 means were pointed out for lessening some of these wastes. One sug- 

 gestion was that a saw-boss would bring about a considerable saving in 

 large operations. His duties would require him to see every tree that 

 was cut and make sure no unnecessary waste was permitted. 



The proper feeding of stock is considered a great saving in large 

 operations, and much of Professor Bryant's address was devoted to a 

 consideration of tbe subject from a chemical standpoint, which was 

 based on sound principles, though possibly a little beyond the under- 

 standing of the ordinary stable boss. However, a list of feedstuffs is 

 given, with their relative values, and this will guide the teamsters who 

 do not understand chi'mistry. 



S. Regel, of the .T. S. Betis Company, Greiuiville, Fla., read a paper 

 giving the result of his experience in paying a bonus for extra work. 



Fuel for logging engines was treated in a paper by J. F, Mahoney, of 

 Laurel, Miss. Tbe very natural ground was taken that logging engines 

 should burn wood as a matter of economy. 



A paper on logcutting was read by V. C. Langley, of the Wausau 

 Southern Lumber Company, Laurel, Miss. ,\tu(mg the points made were 

 these : 



"A large tree that leans heavily should be notched to the depth of six 



