CHAPTER IX 

 ANIMAL DRAFT POWER 



For many years animals constituted the only draft power 

 used in logging operations in the United States. They are still 

 used extensively in the spruce region of the Northeast, the Appa- 

 lachians, the yellow pine forests of the South, the Lake States, 

 the Inland Empire and portions of California. In all of these 

 regions machinery has replaced them for some purposes, yet 

 animal logging is still the chief method. 



Animals are now seldom employed for moving heavy timber, 

 for swamp logging or for work on very rough ground and very 

 steep slopes. Power-driven machinery has supplanted them in 

 the redwood belt of Cahfornia, the fir forests of the Northwest, 

 the cypress swamps of the South and some of the rough moun- 

 tainous portions of the United States. 



They still remain the favorite form of draft where the timber 

 is of medium size, where the stand per acre is less than 5000 

 feet and where topography and bottom afford good footing. 



The chief uses for animals in logging are to transport timber 

 and other forest products from the stump to a collecting point 

 along a logging railroad, a landing on some stream or to a saw- 

 mill. In addition they often supply the power for decking logs 

 on skidways, and loading logs on sleds, wagons and logging cars. 

 Even where machinery is used for skidding logs, animals may be 

 required to return the cable to the woods and to haul wood and 

 water for the engines. 



Oxen. — Oxen were the only animals owned by many of the 

 pioneer lumbermen and, even after horses were available, loggers 

 operating in remote sections found the ox more desirable because 

 it could Hve on coarser feed, draw heavier loads, stand rougher 

 treatment and required an inexpensive harness which could be 

 made in camp. 



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