POWER SKIDDING 213 



which attaches the logs to the main cable and the other operates 

 the machinery and rafts the logs. 



The woods' crew of seven men consists chiefly of negroes as 

 follows : 



I foreman 3 side-line men 



I plug setter i whistle boy 



I head hooker 



The plug setter adjusts the plugs or puppies. The side-line 

 men carry the skidding lines from the main run to the logs and 

 connect them with the puppies. The head hooker's duty is to 

 attach the logs to the main cable by short chains. The whistle 

 boy transmits the orders of the boss to the engineer by means of 

 a code of whistle blasts. 



The crew at the pullboat consists of five men, as follows: 



I engineer i wood-passer 



I fireman i deck man 



I rafter 



The engineer and the fireman perform the usual duties. The 

 deck man uncouples the logs as they are brought up to the pull- 

 boat, removes the plugs and chains, and poles the logs around to 

 the rafter at the rear. He also attaches the removed chains and 

 plugs to the main cable by which they are returned to the woods' 

 crew. The rafter makes the logs up into cigar-shaped raft units 

 about 125 feet long. The wood-passer supplies the pullboat 

 with fuel wood which has been previously cut and piled along 

 the banks of the bayou. A flat boat is used for this purpose. 

 About three cords daily are required for a single boiler. 



An average day's work for a pullboat crew is from fifty to 

 seventy-five logs; the output is often less, however, because of 

 cable breakage. 



Yarding Engines. — In the Pacific Coast forests the slack-rope 

 system is used 'on dry bottom. Two types of machines are 

 employed, namely, the yarding engine and the road engine. 

 The former is employed for skidding logs to a central point on a 

 railroad, or to a skid or pole road down which they are hauled by 

 the road engine. Yarding engines are built in various sizes, but 

 a common one of the more powerful type has a 60 by 120-inch 



