POWER SKIDDING 211 



felled and cut into logs. One man will cut from 60 to 500 feet 

 of road daily, depending on the number of trees to be cut, number 

 of stumps to be removed, and the amount of rubbish on the 

 ground. Workmen regard road building as one of the more 

 profitable forms of work in the cypress forest. 



After the roads have been cut and the timber felled, the logs 

 are prepared for pulling by a "sniping" crew, which may work 

 by the day or by contract. The duty of this crew is to "snipe" 

 the forward ends of the logs, bore two opposite 2-inch holes about 

 one foot from the forward end of the log, and swamp out a trail 

 so that the log can be dragged to the main road. A four-man 

 crew will prepare from 75 to 100 logs daily and the contract price 

 paid is about 8 cents per tree or log. 



A pullboat having moved to a skidding site, the main and 

 messenger cables are run out. A sheave block is adjusted at the 

 far end of the road and two |-inch cables are carried from the 

 pullboat to the sheave block; one end of the cable is passed 

 through it and the two sections are then joined together. At the 

 pullboat one end of the f -inch cable is attached to the messenger 

 cable and the other end is reeled in on the small drum. This 

 drags the messenger cable out over the road, through the sheave 

 block and back to the skidder. The small cable is then detached 

 and the end of the main cable fastened to the messenger. The 

 pullboat is now ready for operation. When one road has been 

 pulled, it is customary to change only the main cable, leaving 

 the messenger in the first run logged until the distance between 

 the sheave blocks becomes several hundred feet. It then does 

 not get in the way of logs coming down the main road, is less 

 subject to damage, and less time is required in changing runs. 

 In changing from one run to another, the sheave block is left at 

 the head of the first road and another is placed at the head of 

 the next road to be pulled. The f-inch cable is carried from the 

 pullboat out over the new road, through the sheave block and 

 then across to the first run where the main cable is detached from 

 the messenger cable, and the latter connected to the f-inch line. 

 The main cable is drawn to the machine and, by reeling in the 

 small cable, the messenger cable is pulled over into the new run 



