CHAPTER XIV 

 POWER SKIDDING 



The first patent on power skidding machinery in the United 

 States was granted on November 13, 1883, to Horace Butters of 

 Ludington, Michigan, and covered an overhead cableway de- 

 signed to get logs out of ''pot holes" and swampy places in the 

 white pine forests. Perceiving the feasibility of using a machine 

 of this type in the cypress forests of North Carolina, the inventor 

 built some machines which were mounted on scows and floated 

 in the bayous and sloughs. They did not completely solve the 

 loggers' problems since they were limited in range from 700 to 

 800 feet and consequently could not reach a large part of the 

 timber. 



In 1889, William Baptist put a ground system in operation 

 in a Louisiana swamp. It consisted of two large drums and an 

 engine and boiler mounted on a scow, from which an endless 

 cable passed out into the forest for a distance of one-half mile. 

 This later developed into the modern "slack-rope" system now 

 used on pullboats. 



A third method called the "snaking system" was a later 

 development in the pine forests of the South. 



THE CABLEWAY SYSTEM 



This comprises a main wire cable, from i inch to i| inches in 

 diameter, suspended between two supports known, respectively, 

 as the "head spar" tree and the "tail" tree. These are usually 

 located from 600 to 750 feet apart, although the span is some- 

 times as great as 1500 feet. The greatest efficiency cannot be 

 obtained at the latter distance, because lighter loads must be 

 handled. 



Head spar trees are located along the logging railroad at 

 intervals of approximately 1000 feet. They are selected by the 



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