A Blighted Chestnut Operation 353 



of the mill, was 6350 feet B.M. Less than 1 per cent of the 

 timber had been killed, but all of it had been attacked by the 

 blight. The result was, therefore, identical with what would have 

 been secured in uninfected stands. 



The felling was done by a crew of two men and two boys, all 

 of whom were Americans and excellent workers. This crew was 

 able to fell, trim and buck up from 10 to 12 M feet B.M. per 

 day. The men did most of the sawing, while the boys notched 

 the trees, trimmed ofY the branches and cut oflF the tops. The 

 stumps were cut as low as the slightly rotten-butted timber per- 

 mitted. This crew was paid $1.50 per M feet mill cut and kept 

 about 25 M feet of logs cut in advance of the skidding teams. 



The skidding crew, which consisted of two teamsters and their 

 teams and one swamper, was under the direction of the barn 

 boss, who helped the crew when the work was very hard. An 

 ordinary chain choker was used in skidding telegraph poles, 

 piling and for long logs. Logs for the mill, however, were loaded 

 on a log boat and dragged to the landing or the mill by one team. 

 These log boats were skeleton sleds with two bunks about a 

 foot and a half off the ground, and running on wooden runners 

 which had to be renewed every few days. The crew's output 

 varied a great deal, depending upon the length of the haul, the 

 size of the timber, the condition of the weather, etc., but on an 

 average they were able to stock a mill which cut about 8 M feet 

 per day. The longest skidding distance was not more than a 

 quarter of a mile and the operation with the log boats very 

 simple. This work of skidding was done under contract, the 

 price being $2.00 per M feet as cut by the mill. 



The sawmill used was a Curtiss, with an inserted-tooth cir- 

 cular saw. It was driven by a belt from 25-H.P. engine, mounted 

 on top of the boiler, and the carriage was operated by a rack and 

 pinion feed of the usual type. The operation was most con- 

 veniently located and carried on systematically. 



In piling an effort was made to get all the lumber of the same 

 thickness and width together, paying little attention to the length, 

 and throwing out only the very poorest grades and the miscuts. 

 In the case of inch stock, however, no attention was paid to the 

 widths, a satisfactory arrangement, since inch material was 

 largely sold "all widths." 



