CHAPTER XI 



HAND LOGGING AND ANIMAL SNAKING 

 HAND LOGGING 



The movement of logs by hand from the stump to a point 

 where they can be reached by animals is commonly practiced 

 in the mountainous region of the Appalachians and is known as 

 "brutting." Trails are cleared down the steep slopes and the 

 logs are rolled to a stream bed or flat where hand labor is replaced 

 by animal labor. Hewed crossties are frequently made in rough 

 mountain regions and dragged down the slopes to streams or to 

 accessible points. 



Hand logging is also practiced in the white cedar {Chamacy- 

 paris thyoides) forests of the Coastal Plain region. The trees 

 are felled, cut into sections and carried by men or carted on 

 wheelbarrows over plank runs to a light tram road where they 

 are loaded on small cars and pushed to a point available to a 

 stream tram road. 



Some operators in the cypress swamps of this region cut swaths, 

 called "creeks," at half-mile intervals through the forests locat- 

 ing them with reference to the current when the swamp is flooded. 

 These are made during a dry season and are cut from 50 to 150 

 feet wide according to the number of logs that are to be floated 

 down them. The trees which have been girdled for about a year 

 are felled and cut into logs during a dry period and left on the 

 ground until flood waters cover the swamp to a depth of 5 or 6 

 feet. Negro laborers are then taken to the swamp in boats and 

 they pole the logs, sometimes for a quarter of a mile, to the 

 nearest "creek" down which they are floated to the rafting 

 ground, where they are made into rafts, and then towed to a 

 mill. 



Hand logging was common on the Pacific Coast for many 

 years before the industry reached its present development. The 



