386 LOGGING 



through the center links around the entire brail and further 

 strengthens it. The brail is braced crosswise with cables as 

 shown in Fig. 120, a. Several links of chain are fastened, by 

 means of a rafting pin, to the outer boom sticks on one side of 

 the raft. On the opposite side of the raft one end of a special 

 cable, Fig. 120, c, is fastened to the boom stick by a pin and 

 the other end carried over to the chain, which is passed through 

 a flattened link and caught. This gives rigidity to the raft. 



Fig. 120. — Details of a Mississippi River Log Raft. a. The method of fastening 

 the boom sticks together, and bracing them with cables, b. A rafting pin in- 

 serted in the outer links of the chain d. c. The fixed end of the cable which is 

 used to strengthen the raft. d. 3-link chain through the outer links of which 

 the rafting pins are driven. 



The chains and cables can be used repeatedly and hence are 

 cheaper than rope which can be used but once. Rafts of this 

 character are made up in sections, some of them 300 feet by 750 

 feet in size, and contain from 850,000 to 4,000,000 feet of timber. 

 They may be controlled in the stream by an end-wheel tug boat 

 attached to the stern of the raft. A strong double winch is 

 placed on the bow of the boat and from this lines run to each 

 forward corner of the raft. By hauling in on one line and 

 slacking on the other one, the raft may be turned in any direc- 

 tion desired. Two tugs often are employed, one at the stern 



