558 Forestry Quarterly. 



rule, except in bad weather, was pretty well adhered to. After 

 a short time the cook also worked, for he soon got tired of stay- 

 ing alone in camp all day, and thereafter three crews of two men 

 each were formed. The crew in which the cook worked generally 

 took the section nearest headquarters. 



The compassman carried, besides his standard compass, a chain, 

 note book, aneroid barometer, and tally register. The cruiser 

 had his tally book, a diameter tape (which is much easier to 

 carry on the snow than calipers) and hypsometer. In extra heavy 

 timber, or at long distances from camp, three men were used to a 

 crew, and it was found, throughout, that the compassman always 

 had to wait for the cruisers. The strip method was used, the 

 strips always run across the contours, and four strips were taken 

 to each section. In this way a very good topographic map was 

 secured. The compassman ran the lines, and generally paced 

 rather than chained. He made topographic and type maps and 

 took notes on the quality and condition of the timber, amount of 

 fire, fungus and insect damage, etc. The estimator in the two 

 man crew, following the compassman's snowshoe tracks, esti- 

 mating for a chain on either side, and checking up frequently on 

 his diameters, heights, and the width of his strips. In the three- 

 man crew, each of the estimators took strips one and one-half 

 chains wide on either side of the compassman. One beauty of 

 the winter work is the ease with which the compassman's tracks 

 can be followed by the cruisers, and the corresponding ease in 

 checking on widths of strips and on corners, without holding the 

 compassman back. 



But the general methods of reconnaissance work are well 

 known, and there is no need of further discussing them here. I 

 wish to give an idea of the conditions under which the work was 

 done, the equipment in the way of snowshoes, etc., used, the 

 actual results obtained, and the cost of the work as far as it has 

 gone. 



During February and March, on the ground covered, the snow 

 was from four to eight feet deep. , By this time it had settled 

 somewhat, so that, except for a few days just after each new 

 storm, we did not have to contend with much light, flufify snow. 

 Only few times, however, was the snow hard enough to make 

 walking without webs possible. Each crew left camp between 

 six-thirty and seven-thirty in the morning, and the walking was 



