FLOATING AND RAFTING 



387 



and one at the forward part of the raft, in which case the 

 control of direction is secured by the forward boat. 



Cypress Rafts. — Cypress logs, which are skidded with pull- 

 boats, are rafted down the canals and bayous. A common 

 form of raft consists of cigar-shaped sections from 150 to 200 

 feet long, each containing from twenty to thirty logs which are 

 floated loose within the boom sticks. Sinkers are placed be- 

 tween floating logs and fastened to them by poles and chain 

 dogs. Old skidding cable is often used to bind the boom sticks 

 together. A 2-inch hole is bored in the log, and the end of the 



Fig. 



A Cypress Raft in a Louisiana Bayou. The floating vegetation on the 

 extreme right is the water hyacinth. 



cable inserted and made fast by a wooden plug driven in be- 

 hind it. The sections are fastened together by rope, and made 

 into a long raft which is towed to the mill by small tugs. Navi- 

 gation is seriously hampered and sometimes absolutely stopped 

 by the, congestion of the watercourses by the water hyacinth 

 and sometimes mills are forced to shut down on account of the 

 lack of logs, due to the closing of the waterways by this plant. 

 Raft Bundles. — In the Coastal Plain region logs are sometimes 

 made into bundles each containing two cars of logs (20 to 30 

 logs) which are bound together firmly with chains. The maxi- 

 mum tow for the larger tugs used on this work is from thirty to 



