Logging the Pacific Slopes 



the rigging slinger to remark that he 

 had been fighting hang-ups all day. The 

 more hang-ups, the fewer logs hauled 

 out. The selection of good donkey set- 

 tings and skid roads greatly influenced 

 the log production and marked the 

 worth of the crew boss, or hook tender. 



ASSEMBLING LOGS to facilitate load- 

 ing on cars was important to a smooth- 

 working operation. It was necessary to 

 accumulate enough logs at one point 

 so that a well-balanced carload could 

 be formed. This was done by building 

 inclined log-crib landings with jump- 

 up approaches so the logs would be 

 hauled first to the higher part of the 

 landing and then rolled toward the 

 front. 



These landings served only the tim- 

 ber on one side of the tracks and the 

 setting was half of a circle or square. 

 The selection of landings was influ- 

 enced by timber and topography. 

 Because some of the small operators 

 located their roads to conform with 

 these previously chosen landings, ex- 

 pensive mistakes in railroading often 

 resulted. The operators who controlled 

 larger bodies of timber did more in- 

 tensive planning of the railroad sys- 

 tem, built main lines to more exacting 

 specifications, and depended on spurs 

 to reach landings that had been chosen 

 in advance. 



Loading in the west coast fir re- 

 gion a region on the Pacific slopes 

 that is representative of two distinct 

 types was done by the gin-pole 

 crotch-line method. The loader was set 

 parallel to the track facing the landing. 

 The gin pole was set across the track 

 from the landing and leaned toward it 

 so that the lead block was about plumb 

 with the outside rail. In the early set- 

 ups, the main line was shackled to two 

 loading straps of equal lengths, and on 

 the end of each was an L-shaped load- 

 ing hook. The loaders pulled the slack 

 of the main line as they carried the 

 loading hook to the ends of the log for 

 hooking. The loading engineer placed 

 the log as the head loader required by 

 hoisting it and judging its swing. Soon 



697 



the addition of a haul-back drum less- 

 ened the work of getting the hooks 

 back over the log as well as regulating 

 its placement on the car. A third drum 

 was added for use in spotting the cars 

 for loading when the train crew was 

 away. A somewhat similar loading 

 method was used in the ponderosa pine 

 region another Pacific slope region 

 although not so extensively. 



It was soon found that logging by the 

 ground-lead method resulted in less 

 hang-up delay when the logs were 

 pulled uphill by the donkey. The log 

 tended to follow up the side of a stump 

 and shear away from it. More power 

 and speed were needed, which the ma- 

 chinery builders supplied when they 

 turned out the 10- by 12-inch and 11- 

 by 13-inch compound-geared yarders 

 with extended firebox boilers. Noting 

 the speed-up resulting from fewer 

 hang-ups, a versatile logger experi- 

 mented with fastening a heavy yarding 

 block on a high stump. The idea caught 

 on at once. By 1918, camp after camp 

 had gone to the air, in a manner of 

 speaking. 



HIGH -LEAD LOGGING was under way, 

 and the lay of the ground brought out 

 various adaptations to fit the problem. 



Through the years many changes 

 have been made in loading devices in 

 order to conform to the progress in 

 high-lead and high-line systems of log- 

 ging. Among these various methods are 

 the McLean boom, the single tong 

 boom, and the duplex system. 



In the early 1890's logging in the 

 pine region developed in a big way. 

 Logs rolled out in an almost endless 

 procession of splendidly matched four- 

 horse teams and big wheels. 



Railroad logging outfits had their 

 logs loaded on cars with speed and pre- 

 cision by use of a steam jammer, and 

 large production was maintained. The 

 steam jammer is one of the fastest log 

 loaders in use even today and, although 

 in more general use in the pine region, 

 it has also found favor among some of 

 the heavy fir-log producers. 



The greater flexibility brought about 



