370 LOGGING 



companies. The charters of boom companies usually regulate 

 the prices to be charged for handhng and rafting logs. The 

 state laws of Minnesota provide for inspection and scale of logs 

 in the booms by a surveyor-general and his deputies, for which 

 a fee of 5 cents per thousand feet for all logs scaled is charged 

 against the boom company. The surveyor-general is empowered 

 to seize and sell logs in case of non-payment of the fee. 



On some tributaries of the Ohio River, especially on the Big 

 Sandy down which great quantities of logs have been floated, 

 the practice is for individuals to drive their logs loose from 

 the headwaters of the small streams to private rafting works 

 located on the lower course of the Big Sandy where the logs are 

 made into rafts by contract, floated to the mouth of the river 

 and there taken in charge by the owner and towed down the 

 Ohio River to the mills. 



On the Pacific Coast the logs are brought to tidewater by 

 logging railroads and made into rafts at the owner's rafting works. 



A. LOG MARKS AND BRANDS 



Some method of identifying the logs of different owners when 

 they are assorted at destination is imperative and lumbermen 

 have adopted the system of branding their logs at the skidways, 

 in the forest or at the landing on the stream. The brands con- 

 sist of numerals or characters, mounted on the head of a sledge 

 hammer. A log is stamped at several places on each end so 

 that no matter what portion of the log is afloat the brand can be 

 readily seen. 



To further aid in the identification of logs the use of a bark 

 mark which is a design cut on the log near the end is obligatory 

 in some states. This may be made either by the sawyers when 

 they cut up the tree or at the landing. A bark mark is often 

 used in connection with a "catch mark" painted on the ends of 

 the log. In such cases a brand is not used. The number of 

 brands and marks used on a given stream is sometimes large, 

 each logger often employing several to distinguish logs coming 

 from given streams or sections of land. Some loggers use a new 

 set each season in order to keep the logs of different years sepa- 



