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log, and, especially, upon the skill of the sawyer in getting the possible 
maximum of high-grade lumber out of every log, that is, reducing the 
slabs and edging to the lowest possible figure. An experienced sawyer 
can “size up” a log before it comes on the carriage, and will know how 
to turn and handle it so as to get the most desirable and best-sized pieces 
out of it. One method is to saw the log “alive” or through and through, 
edging up the boards afterwards with the circular saw. Still another plan 
is to slab off the boards on four sides of the log, leaving the “wane,” or 
bark, on each board and then cutting up the squared timber into planks 
or boards. The “waney” boards are then sent to the edger, which re- 
moves the bark, or, some small mills may ship them, since mills are not 
always equipped with an edger. The slabs may be cut into fire-wood with 
a cut-off saw or used as fuel for the engine. 
Logging operations and costs——With this digression into mills and 
machinery, we may next describe a specific logging and milling operation 
which we took a little time to follow in detail. It was conducted at Ava, 
Illinois, by the Old Ben Coal Company. The timber being handled was 
located about 414 miles southwest of Ava, in Kinkaid township, Jackson 
county. The mill was in the S. E. corner of Section 32, T.7S., R.4 W., 
and the cutting area included parts of sections 32, T.7S., R.4 W., and 
Section 5, T.8S., R.4W. Land and timber had been purchased by the 
company and after cutting the timber the land was to be sold for farming 
or pasture purposes, at a price around $15.00 an acre. 
The ordinary operations connected with logging consist of felling, 
bucking, and loading the logs on drays or log-wagons for transportation 
to the mill. Skidding, which means hauling the logs for short distances 
to piles or skidways in the woods by means of horses or other power, was 
eliminated in this instance as the logs were hauled directly to the mill, 
about a mile distant, on log-wagons or drays. 
The felling crews consisted of two men each, and for felling the trees 
and cutting them into log lengths they received $3.50 per M. feet, the 
minimum top-diameter of logs being 12 inches, Doyle-Scribner scale. 
According to Seerey, two men working in timber which will run from 8 
to 10 logs per 1,000 feet will ordinarily cut between 5,000 and 6,000 feet 
per day, the logs varying in length from 12 to 16 feet. In Illinois men 
could not do so well, but two men should cut 4,000 feet per day. Wages 
in this region have to be graded by what men can receive in the mines, 
so that good inducements must be offered woods workers, especially in 
the summer. Teamsters with their teams received about $8.00 per M. 
feet for hauling logs to the mill and did their own yarding, swamping, 
and road-building. 
The mill was above the average in efficiency and cut about 4,000 feet 
per day, this lumber being hauled to Ava, a distance of 4%4 miles, at a 
