POWER SKIDDING 207 



long hookers at the stump to the levermen. The tong hookers 

 attach the tongs or chokers to the logs, swamp an occasional 

 Ihnb when necessary, and control the speed of the log by signals 

 to the leverman. The riders, usually negro boys, ride or lead 

 the animals from the machine to the next log. The animals 

 drag the cable to the desired point and then are brought back to 

 the machine to repeat the process. The wood choppers and 

 haulers cut and supply fuel for the boiler. The night watchman 

 guards the machine at night, cleans up, and gets up steam in 

 the morning ready for the crew. The top loader chooses the 

 logs to be loaded and, standing on the car, directs their proper 

 placement on the load. The ground loader places the loading 

 tongs on the logs to be loaded, acting under the orders of the top 

 loader. 



If the skidder is equipped with a loader boom and engine the 

 following extra men are required: 



I loader leverman, usually the crew foreman 

 I top loader 

 I ground loader 



This makes a total of nineteen men for a full crew. Under 

 favorable conditions the total cost of skidding and loading is 

 from 75 cents to $1 per thousand. 



Eight animals are used, four being worked from one to two 

 and one-half hours and then allowed to rest while the others 

 are in use. The ninth animal is used to haul the wood cart 

 which transports fuel for the engine. 



The daily capacity of each line is about 35,000 feet, with an 

 average of 125,000 feet for a 4-line machine, where logs up to 

 40 feet in length are handled. 



Daily records of 4-line machines, bringing in whole trees, have 

 run as high as 295,000 feet. This amount, however, cannot 

 be approximated as an average even under favorable circum- 

 stances. 



