220 LOGGING 



earth is tramped around them to make a solid bed. Where 

 there are sharp pitches and the logs are apt to dig into the ground 

 the skids are placed closer together. Saddles or hollows are adzed 

 out in the center in which the turn of logs is dragged. The skids 

 are elevated on the inner side of a curve to prevent the logs 

 turning too sharply. Some prefer to lay the skids flat and secure 

 the necessary elevation by means of short sheer skids. The 

 advantage of this method is that a change in pitch at the turn 

 can be more readily accomplished than when the main skids 

 must be changed. 



The road should be as straight as possible because curves 

 increase friction, reduce the hauling ability of the engine and 

 also cause greater wear on the cable. Where there are turns 

 in the road, either rollers are placed on stumps or posts, or 

 fenders are put alongside the road to prevent wear on the cable. 

 Rollers may also be employed on top of ridges to prevent wear 

 from downward pressure, and suspended rollers may be used to 

 hold the cable down at the foot of slopes. 



On low ground skids are laid on stringers or cobwork into which 

 they are firmly notched and the skids are also braced by short 

 pieces of timber. Hemlock is frequently used for skid timbers 

 because of the low value of the stumpage. About 80,000 feet 

 of timber, exclusive of bridges, is required per mile of skid road 

 and the cost for labor ranges from $1000 to $1500 per mile. 



Hauling by Locomotive. — On some operations the road engine 

 is replaced by a geared locomotive and the logs are dragged 

 between the rails from the yarding engine to the landing. As a 

 rule the logs are dragged directly over the ties, but on a road of 

 some permanency planking is nailed on the ties to protect them, 



A plan sometimes followed is to have a spur track from one- 

 half to a mile long running out from each end of the landing, with 

 a donkey working at some point on each spur. The engine goes 

 out one spur and with a short cable couples to a turn of logs, 

 made up in advance, and drags them down to the landing. It 

 then goes out the other spur and brings in a turn from it, alter- 

 nating in this manner throughout the day. A water tank with 

 a i|-inch escape pipe is sometimes used to wet the track to 



