LOGGING METHODS AND PROCEDURE 



139 



is capable of being regrown, and probably it will always be available 

 and relatively cheap on our markets. 



6. Wood is abundantly available in many different sizes, shapes, 

 and kinds for practically all forms of construction as well as many 

 other purposes. 



7. Wood is a natural product. It may be grown wherever man- 

 kind wishes, provided conditions favorable to tree growth are present. 

 Metals, coal and oil are exhaustible resources. The forest, under 

 proper management, may be handled to make it produce forever. 



8. Wood is warm" to" the touch. This is why it is so much in de- 

 mand for such purposes as automobile steering wheels, table tops, and 

 chairs in preference to other materials. 



9. Wood cleaves or splits. Though this may be a disadvantage, 

 it is important in the preparation of firewood or fencing, rived shingles 

 known as shakes, and for many other purposes. 



3. LOGGING METHODS AND PROCEDURE* 



Logging constitutes one of the oldest American industries. The 

 wealth and extent of our forest resources have given employment for 



large numbers of people in the 



woods since earliest colonial 

 days. For many generations, 

 logging procedure followed sub- 

 stantially the established meth- 

 ods. Winter sled logging and 

 stream driving were the prac- 

 tice during the early days of the 

 industry in New England, New 

 York, Pennsylvania, and the 

 Lake States. In the South, 

 mules and oxen were widely 

 used in the pineries. 



Logging continued as one of 

 the great American industries 

 and was centered for many 

 years in Maine until 1840, then 



FIG. 77. Many good logs are shattered 

 in felling as shown above. This illus- 

 trates an extreme example of the amount 

 of good wood lost in felling trees of 

 large size and great weight. In felling 

 the larger redwood trees, a bed made of 

 limbs, brush, etc. is sometimes made to 

 check the fall and prevent unnecessary 

 breakage. 



it shifted to New York, which 



became the leading lumber-producing state. Twenty per cent of the 



entire country's lumber supply was produced in the state, chiefly in 



* For further reading, see "Logging Principles and Practices," by Nelson C. 

 Brown, John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1934. 



