CHAPTER XXIV 



A. PORTABLE MILL OPERATIONS 



Although the annual cut of a portable mill ranges only from 

 several hundred thousand to a few million feet, the industry is 

 of importance because of the large number of plants in operation 

 many of which handle timber in regions where large mills are 

 not feasible. 



As a rule the portable operations in New England are con- 

 ducted as a side line by men engaged in the retail lumber busi- 

 ness; by contractors who can use their idle teams during the 

 winter season; by men who engage in lumbering as a specula- 

 tion when an opportunity presents itself; and by small wood- 

 working plants which are able to secure occasional stands of 

 timber suitable for their needs. Contract work both in logging 

 and manufacture is common and the product is usually sold to 

 railroad companies in the form of crossties and structural tim- 

 bers; to retail lumbermen in the form of lumber; to telephone 

 and telegraph companies in the form of poles; or to various 

 woodworking industries. The business is more active during 

 the fall and winter months when agricultural and other out- 

 door occupations are slack, because labor and teams are more 

 plentiful and a snow bottom reduces the logging expense, 

 especially for skidding. 



In the National Forests of the West the tendency is for port- 

 able mill operators to conduct their operations continuously, 

 except for interruptions due to climatic conditions. These oper- 

 ations are conducted largely in the virgin forests often several 

 miles from a railroad and under conditions that are not favorable 

 for the development of large plants. The products of these 

 mills are used locally by settlers, by mines and by other indus- 

 trial enterprises. 



Portable plants are common in the yellow pine region of the 

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