460 LOGGING 



until the latter part of July or the first of August, after which 

 time the bark sticks and cannot be removed profitably. The 

 best months are June and July. A crew is commonly composed 

 of four men, namely, one fitter, one spudder, and two log cutters. 

 The fitter selects the trees to be felled, then with an ax cuts a 

 ring through the bark around the base of the tree. He then 

 cuts another ring 4 feet above the first, and splits the bark 

 down one side of the tree from ring to ring. The spudder then 

 inserts a tool known as a spud between the bark and wood and 

 peels off the bark. 



The tree is next felled by the log cutters, after which the 

 fitter girdles the bole in 4-foot sections and cuts a line through 

 the bark along the entire length. He also swamps off" the limbs 

 that will interfere with the work of the sawyers or spudder. 

 The latter then removes the bark on these sections, peeling it 

 in as large pieces as is possible, to reduce future handling, and 

 leans it, bark side out, against the fallen log to dry. This takes 

 from several days to a month, depending on the weather. The 

 log cutters now cut up the bole. 



On some operations two men compose a crew, and do both 

 the felling and bark peeling. The timber then is not cut into 

 logs until later in the season when the regular logging operation 

 begins. 



If the dry bark is not removed from the forest until snow falls, 

 it is piled in ricks, bark side up, to prevent the tannin from 

 leaching out during rainy weather. Often, as soon as dry, it 

 is hauled on wagons or crude sleds to the railroad. Frequently 

 it is transported to the base of steep mountain slopes in triangu- 

 lar or rectangular troughs, made in portable sections. The 

 workmen start near the base of the slope, sending down all bark 

 within a short radius of the chute. As the work progresses up 

 the slope new sections are added to the trough until the upper 

 edge of the cutting is reached. The slide is then removed and 

 the process repeated on a new route. On very steep pitches the 

 speed of the bark is checked by a board, one end of which is 

 hinged to a support above the slide with the other end resting 

 in the trough. The bark in passing raises the board and the 



