86 North American Forests and Forestry 



those above them in place. Many lives have been 

 lost by the impetuous rush of the logs when those 

 key-logs had begun to move. 



Lumbering operations differ in various parts of 

 the country, according to the topography, climate, 

 and the species of wood lumbered. What has just 

 been said of lumbering in the Great Lakes country 

 is substantially applicable also to Maine and other 

 northeastern lumber regions. Where hard wood 

 is cut, transportation of logs by river is ordinarily 

 out of the question, because these woods are too 

 liable to sink and be lost. Some kinds of hard 

 wood will not float at all. In the South, where the 

 swamp-loving bald cypress (Taxodium distichum) 

 is a very important timber tree, access to the 

 places where it grows is sometimes gained by 

 the dredging of canals, along which the logs are 

 hauled to the mill. In the mountainous regions 

 of the West, both the absence of heavy snowfalls 

 in the woods and the immense size of the logs add 

 to the difficulties caused by the topography. Here 

 the logging railroad is of nearly universal neces- 

 sity, supplemented by slides, on which the logs are 

 sent to fly down steep mountain sides. Logging 

 on the Pacific coast is even more interesting and 

 picturesque to the spectator than that along the 

 rivers of the Great Lakes country. 



The business of bringing logs to the mill is not 

 always done by the owner of the stumpage, or the 

 mill, at his own risk. Often the job is let out to a 

 contractor, who furnishes his own tools, teams, 



