36 THE LOG OF A TIMBER CRUISER 



tion plat, four by four inches, ruled into sixteen 

 squares representing forty acres each. At the top 

 of the page space was given to note the number of 

 the range, township, and section, the name of the 

 watershed, the date, and the initials of the cruiser. 

 On the righthand sheet was the form in which tim- 

 ber estimates were set down sixteen squares cor- 

 responding to the forties of the section plat whereon 

 the map was to be made. Below, at the bottom, 

 across both pages, a place was left for a description 

 of the whole section; the character of the surface 

 and soil, rock and ground cover, the condition of the 

 range for cattle or sheep; the logging possibilities; 

 the species, quality and condition of the timber; the 

 extent of burned-over area, if any ; and other miscel- 

 laneous information of silvical interest. 



"Your map," continued Frazer, when I had fin- 

 ished examining the notebook, "must be drawn in 

 hundred-foot contours one at every hundred feet 

 as you go up or down. The elevation is found, of 

 course, by your aneroid. You indicate also trails, 

 roads, fences, houses and similar features whenever 

 they occur, by the symbols in the forest atlas. 

 You'll just have to learn them as you go along 

 they're easy enough. Your contours will give you 

 some trouble, though, at first. About the best way 

 of judging how they should run is to imagine that a 

 body of water has risen to the elevation at which 

 you stand. The shore line of such a sea, seen for 

 ten chains on each side of you, would mark the 



