June 25, 1915. 



A tournament is staged for Eau Claire, Wis., September 6, whicli 

 ■nill recall former days rather than illustrate present practices. It 

 ■nill show log driving and log rolling, and is intended to confer the 

 championship of the world on the winners. Incidentally, a fifty dollar 

 gold prize is to be awarded. 



Driving logs down rivers is not a thing of the past, and perhaps 

 never wiU be wholly so in this country. In some parts of India log 

 drives are yet in vogue, though logging is five thousand years old 

 "there. But tlie spectacular log drives of former days, on the rivers 

 of northeastern and northern United States, are no longer common, 

 and in .some regions have wholly ceased. On some rivers very respect- 

 able drives are still to be seen. But, speaking in general terms, the 

 American log driver is about ready to say with Byron : ' ' The day 

 of my destiny 's over. ' ' 



The Eau Claire tournament is intended to sliow people how they 

 used to drive logs down rivers, and the demonstrations will be given 

 by men who learned in the dangerous and fascinating school of expe- 

 rience the art of riding sawlogs down tumbling rapids, over cascades, 

 ■and through whirlpools. It is more dangerous than polo playing, bull 

 fighting, or la crosse, and no less exciting. One thing may be depended 

 upon with certainty, and that is, no fakers and pretenders are going 

 to do any genuine log riding. The actors will be real actors or they 

 -ivill very quickly get out of the game. 



The Log Rollers 



Biding logs over waterfalls will be only ]iart of the show. The 

 champion log rollers of the United States have been invited to attend 

 and take part. It is not probable that members of State legislatures 

 will accept the invitation and put in an appearance, for the kind of 

 log rolling to be pulled off is different from the sort at which so many 

 lawmakers have become proficient. 



Rolling logs with handspikes and canthooks is not yet a thing of 

 the past. A great deal of it is done on every logging operation, but 

 on the largest works this art is declining in importance. So many 

 power appliances for handling sawlogs are now in u.se that canthook 

 and spike are not in as universal evidence as they once were. 



Fifty years ago, and coming down to a period less remote, the 

 sawlog was handled "by main strength and awkwardness," to use an 

 . old fashioned lumberman 's expression. It was a ' ' Yo, heave, ho ' ' 

 to get a log out of a tight place, and the canthook man was expected 

 to lift till he could se^ the stars. But not so much of that is done 

 now. The loaders, skidders, and chokers, operated by steam or elec- 

 tricity, now reach their chains and booms unbelievable distances and 

 lift or drag logs out of holes and ravines totally beyond the power 

 of the old-time canthook artist. 



Logging evolution has evoluted a good many of tlie former hand- 

 spike handlers out of their old jobs; but the redeeming feature of the 

 business is that it has brought them better jobs and more pay. The 

 man who once made a samson post of himself to sustain the handle 

 of a peavey, is now manipulating the lever of a steam skidder and let- 

 ting the drum and cable do the lifting. 



The Cause op Changes 



The changes from the old methods to the present are due to im- 

 provements in some eases and to necessity in others. The steam 

 skidder and loader are so much superior to the old spike and cant- 

 hook that no argument is necessary to show it. But there might 

 be some question whether the present method of transporting logs long 

 distances is better than the river drive of former days. The conclu- 

 sion depends on the circumstances in each particular case. A river 

 with sufficient water and a favorable channel would carry a large 

 body of logs more cheaply tlian a railroad, but many times rivers lack 

 a sufficient stage of water much of tlie year, and many channels are 

 rugged, and these circumstances make log drives tedious and expensive. 



Whatever the reasons may be the fact is the steam logging roads 

 now carry many more saw logs than are floated in streams. In 

 numerous regions all timber within reach of floatable rivers was cut 

 out long ago, and what remains is so far back that it can be brought 

 out by railroads only. 



The tournament at Eau Claire will be in charge of W. P. Hart, 

 of that city, who is a member of the Wisconsin State Athletic Com- 

 mission. It is exjjected to attract the champion log rollers and log 

 riders of the whole region, and it will afford an opportunity to 

 witness feats which many persons may never have another chance 

 to see. 



If the moving picture concerns grasp the opportunity which the 

 occasion presents, they will be on hand, and records will be made 

 of scenes which will be difficult to duplicate, and which will be of 

 great interest and educational value to the ]iublic. 



Reducing Wood Shrinking and Swelling 



A New York firm is trying to find some practical means' of elimi- 

 nating entirely the shrinking and swelling of wood blocks laid end 

 up as a sort of mosaic flooring. The woods used are oak, mahogany, 

 Circassian walnut, etc., and are cut into blocks, usually about one- 

 half inch thick and one and one-eighth inch square. These blocks 

 are thoroughly dried in a vacuum oven and then impregnated with 

 parafline. Although this impregnation appears, even under the 

 microscope, to be complete it does not prevent the wood from re- 

 sponding to varying conditions of humidity. This is probably due 

 to the faUure of the paraffine to enter the walls of cells which alone 

 govern shrinkage and swelling. 



An experiment was tried with soaking the paraffined blocks in lin- 

 seed oil, but the results were entirely unexpected. Although the 

 wood took up a considerable amount of the oil there was little, 

 if any, expansion, and upon being placed in contact with moisture 

 the blocks swelled faster than similar blocks not treated with lin- 

 seed oil. They also responded more quickly to variations in the 

 humidity of the air. It is hard to understand why such .should be 

 the case. 



It is doubtful if there is any way by" which wood can be made 

 entirely immune from ' ' working. ' ' High temperatures reduce the 

 property materially and vulcanizing goes still further, but such 

 processes do not eliminate the trouble. Impregnation with creosote, 

 tar, and crude oil, as numerous tests with paving blocks .and other 

 material demonstrate, will not keep out moisture entirely. 



H. D. Tiemann of the Forest Products Laboratory is authority for 

 the following statement: 



"Methods of partially overcoming the slirinliage by impregnation of the 

 cell walls with organic materials closely allied to the wood substance itself 

 are in use. In one of these which has been patented sugar is used as 

 the impregnating material, which is subsequently hardened or 'caramelized' 

 by heating. Experiments which the Forest Service has made substantiate 

 the claims that sugar does greatly reduce the shrinkage of the wood." 



It is sometimes claimed that prolonged soaking of wood will reduce 

 its hygroseopicity. In this connection Tiemann says; 



"Soaking wood for a long time before drying has been practiced, but 

 experiments indicate that no particularly beneficial results, from the dry- 

 ing standpoint, are attained thereby. In fact, in some species containing 

 sugars and allied substances it is probably detrimental from the shrink- 

 age standpoint. If soaked in boiling water some species shrink and warp 

 more than if dried without the treatment." 



Since this tendency of wood to change in volume according to the 

 variations in moisture conditions attending its use, whether free 

 water or the humidity of the air, is a serious objection to the employ- 

 ment of wood in some important instances, this should prove a 

 fruitful field for further research and experiment. 



Speeding Up Tree Growth 



Recent experiments with hybrid forest trees show in some instances 

 a remarkable stimulation in the rate of growth. The hope is ex- 

 pressed that eventually lumber-producing hybrids will be evolved 

 which wUl greatly lessen the time of development of the crop. 

 Unfortunately, however, the seed from such trees is not fertile or ie 

 low in fertility and cannot be depended upon to reproduce the 

 desirable qualities. Resort must be had to cuttings, layerings, or 

 grafts, to which some kinds lend themselves readily. 



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