Forest Utilization 217 



chain is sometimes used in place of the tongs, and a farmer 

 would be more likely to have the chain. It is looped 

 around the large end of the log, and the loose ends put 

 over the hook on the whiffle-tree. It is not quite so 

 quickly or easily handled as the tongs. In placing these 

 small skidways, they should be located where a load of 

 logs can be most easily collected and at the same time 

 be accessible for the wagon or sleigh. It is cheaper and 

 more easily handled than the large skidway when the 

 ground is in the proper condition, but it never pays to 

 go off the road for a load and get stuck. This is frequently 

 done when the nature of the ground has not been suffi- 

 ciently considered. 



When there is deep snow, or the ground is soft, sleighs 

 or wagons should not leave the road, and it becomes 

 necessary to skid the logs to the road-side. This means a 

 longer distance to skid than when small skidways are 

 scattered through the woods, and the process of snaking 

 logs, one by one, is too slow. A single sled or " go-devil" 

 is used. The large ends of several logs are rolled onto the 

 sled by means of cant hooks, and chained fast. The 

 other ends drag. This method pays up to a quarter of a 

 mile. If there is very much timber to come out, it pays 

 to extend the logging road when the distance becomes 

 greater than that. Sometimes, usually in summer logging, 

 a heavy, forked branch, or " lizard," is substituted for the 

 sled and used in the same way. 



These skidways should be located on the main road 

 and, if possible, so located that the bank at that point is on 

 a level with, or slightly above, the sleigh or wagon bunks. 

 This facilitates loading. All brush should be removed. A 



