346 LOGGING 



may charge for catching stray logs that are afloat, and the con- 

 ditions under which log catchers may operate.^ 



Runaway logs on the Ohio River have been carried to the Gulf 

 of Mexico. On many other streams draining into the Atlantic 

 and Pacific Oceans logs have been carried to sea and lost. Tim- 

 ber caught on the high seas is the property of the finder. Rafts 

 on the Great Lakes are sometimes broken up during storms and 

 the logs scattered over the beach for many miles. The collection 

 of logs under these conditions is expensive and in some cases the 

 cost is prohibitive. 



(4) Stream improvements are of little or no value after the 

 abandonment of logging operations. The improvements made 

 on streams to render them driveable are often costly and of such 

 a nature that they cannot be used for other purposes after logging 

 is completed. Exceptions to this may be noted in the case of 

 the boom sticks used for storage purposes at large sorting centers, 

 which are manufactured into lumber at the conclusion of opera- 

 tions; and of dams on large streams which may be retained for 

 the control of the water supply. 



(5) The heavy and long time investment required for mill 

 stocking. With long drives that are now made one or more 

 seasons may elapse before the logs reach the mill. On the 

 Ohio and Mississippi Rivers it is not uncommon for logs to 

 reach their destination the second summer after cutting and in 

 some cases delivery has been delayed from three to five years. ^ 

 This long time investment in stumpage and logging expense is 



1 The legal fee in Pennsylvania is 50 cents for each thousand feet, log scale, held 

 and delivered to the owner. 



The legal fee on the Guyandotte River in West Virginia and Kentucky is 25 

 cents per log. 



A stringent State law in Washington forbids anyone catching runaway logs 

 without permission. This law was found necessary to stop the practice of setting 

 logs adrift from booms at night and then claiming a fee for returning them. 

 Loggers pay 5 cents per tie and 50 cents per log for all runaways that are caught 

 and returned to them. 



^ In 1907 a drive of yellow poplar logs came down the Ohio River from the 

 headwaters of one of the tributaries, where it had been held up for five years because 

 of an insufiScient water supply. The loss in merchantable contents of many logs 

 was 75 per cent. 



