132 THE BOOK OF FORESTRY 



from tree to tree and the logs are carried suspended 

 from a wheel which travels upon this cable. 



Sawing the Logs. When the logs finally reach the mill 

 they are stored in a millpond if water is available, for 

 water storage is desirable with practically every species 

 which floats. These millponds may be from two to three 

 acreg in extent and will hold a large number of logs. 

 Prom the storage pond they are hauled up an inclined 

 plane by means of an endless chain equipped with teeth 

 called the "bull chain/ 7 When the log reaches the top 

 of the plane it is rolled from the trough in which 

 the chain runs to the deck, a sloping floor pitched 

 toward the track upon which the saw carriage runs. 



A marvelous place is the interior of a sawmill, one 

 that stimulates so many senses that the effect, to say 

 nothing of the noise, is bewildering. As previously 

 stated the modern sawmill is the pride of the American 

 lumberman, and its skillful arrangement is a tribute to 

 his ingenuity. From the door in which the log enters 

 from the outside its course proceeds in a straight line 

 until it reaches the grading table ready to be graded, 

 sorted, and stacked. The light inside is rather dim but 

 after a minute or two we can make out the arrange- 

 ment of the mill and understand the various operations. 



As the log pokes its end into the door from the mill- 

 pond a man with a slim hickory stick upon which 

 figures are burned rushes forward to measure the log 

 at the small end. He is the sealer and after measuring 

 the diameter of the log he reads its contents in board 

 feet from the hickory stick (log rule or scale stick) 

 having estimated the length by eye. This he records in 

 a book, as the owner wishes to know how much timber 

 has been cut in the woods and how much the sawyers 

 should saw out. 



