198 A MANUAL FOR NORTHERN WOODSMEN 



tance measure; a vernier compass is usually employed 

 for the sake of more accurate line running. Twenty to 

 fifty per cent of the gross area is commonly covered by 

 actual estimate, one hundred per cent in some cases. 

 The unit party for the work consists of two men, compass- 

 man and cruiser, of whom one handles distance, area, 

 and topography, while the other is responsible for the 

 timber. Details of practice vary much, as elsewhere, in 

 accordance with the purpose of a cruise, conditions 

 found, and the training of different estimators. Follow- 

 ing is a description of a method as near standard as any, 

 widely employed in work of high responsibility. 



a. Section lines are usually freshened up and re- 

 chained, and a center line may be run through each sec- 

 tion. The main purpose of this work is to set stakes for 

 the guidance of the cruising party. It is so laid out that 

 the actual cruise or estimating lines will run as nearly 

 as may be across the features of the topography. 



b. The cruising party, starting at one corner of the 

 section to be examined, proceeds to the nearest stake, 

 2^ chains from it, whence the compassman, with the 

 declination set off in his staff compass, travels parallel 

 to the side line of the section, keeping account of his 

 pacing, taking aneroid readings at changes of the ground, 

 and sketching topography. Behind him follows the cruiser, 

 who for a width of 5 rods on each side, estimates the timber. 

 500 steps, 4 tallies, make a quarter mile, the width of a 

 40. At that point the scoring of timber begins anew, for 

 the new forty being entered. So the work proceeds until 

 the opposite section line is met (or at half that distance 

 if the section is subdivided), when the pacing is checked 

 up, the compass work tested on the stake and declination 

 reset if necessary. Offset is then made to the second 

 stake, l l /2 chains from the corner, from which point a 

 parallel line is run in the opposite direction. Four such 

 lines are run across each tier of forties. With 16 such 

 lines the cruise of the section is completed. 



c. The detail of the estimating work is as follows: 

 First, in nearby timber being cut, or in ordinary circum- 

 stances by examination of windfalls, the cruiser trues up 



