FLOATING AND RAFTING 389 



a winch located in the second story of the log dump. The cables 

 thus make a large loop into which the logs are unloaded. Two 

 binding chains are sunk into the water alongside each cable, one 

 end being temporarily attached to the unloading dock and the 

 other end to a small rope which is placed outside of the cradle. 

 When the logs have been placed in the latter, the bundle is made 

 compact by tightening up the cradle cables, and the binding 

 chains are then brought around the bundle, tied and made fast 

 by heavy iron dogs. 



Pacific Coast Rafting. — Logs in the Pacific Coast region are 

 often rafted down the large streams, or towed along Puget 

 Sound to the mills. Two forms of rafts are employed for this 

 work. When logs are to be floated downstream without the aid 

 of a tug, they are made up into "round" booms which consist 

 of a group of loose logs surrounded by several boom sticks. The 

 raft is allowed to drift with the current, and may or may not be 

 in charge of a raftsman, depending on the character of the stream, 

 and the tides. 



Logs that are to be towed to destination are rafted at a "harbor 

 boom," which consists of a large storage pocket and a rafting 

 pocket. The logs are brought to the harbor boom by rail and 

 dumped into the storage pockets which consist of an area in- 

 closed by boom sticks held in place by piling. The rafting 

 pockets are narrow lanes about 75 feet wide and from 800 to 

 1000 feet long inclosed by boom sticks, held in place by piling 

 placed at approximately 70-foot intervals. The logs may or may 

 not be sorted for quality and species previous to rafting. Rafting 

 on tide water can be carried on only during a favorable tide. 



The rafters first string boom sticks across the far end and on 

 Tooth sides of the pocket. Logs of approximately equal lengths 

 are then poled down the run and stowed parallel to each other 

 in the first section of boom sticks. Each row is known as a 

 "tier," and two tiers usually constitute a section about 75 feet 

 square. As soon as two tiers have been stowed logs, called 

 " swifters," are placed across the end of the section at right 

 angles to the tiers in order to keep the logs closely packed. The 

 gap is then closed by a boom stick placed across the opening and 



