LA\D TRANSPORTATION WITHOUT VEHICLES 



25 



The size and length of cables customary in Western skidding is: — 



Hauling line ... 1'/ 5,000 on road engine; 1,500' on yard engine; 

 Pull-back line ... ■. 15,000 on road engine; 3,000 on yard engine; 



The wire cable is usually made of 6 strands, each containing 19 wires, wound around a hemp center. 

 Running cables should never be galvanized. The proper load of a cable is only one fifth of the breaking 

 strain in tons. Steel ropes (cables) have twice the strength of charcoal iron ropes. Zig-zags can be made 

 by using tackle blocks ("butt chain blocks," made of manganese steel) on the hauling line. One engineer 

 and one fireman are all the crew required in addition to one hook tender, two rigging men, and one 

 whistle boy. Frequently the engine loads the yarded logs on railroad cars by means of a third drum. 

 Engines are moved from place to place by their own power. Skidding expense per 1,000 feet about 50 cents, 

 on an average. Price of donkey engines ■■-■2,000 to •■••5,000. 



Self-propelling donkey engines on wheels (gypsy locomotives) are used on the Pacific Coast for:- 



Log skidding; ... Pile driving; ... Switching cars; 

 Log loading; .. Stump pulling; ... Wrecking. 



These g>'psy locomotives have two drums, or g\-psies, in front of the horizontal boiler, each drum 

 carrying 600 feet of ' i-inch cable. The wheel base is 11 feet. 



IV. Clyde and Lidgerwood systems. In the North, South, and East, in connection with railroads, 

 the steam skidding (ground skidding) systems of the Clyde Iron Works, Duluth, Minn., and of the Lidger- 

 wood Mfg. Co., 96, Liberty Street, New York, are being used extensively. 

 Excellent as these systems are, they have proven unfit :- 

 For Western logging (logs too heavy); 

 For skidding distances exceeding 900 feet; 

 For rough mountain countries; 

 For stumpage averaging under 5,000 feet per acre. 

 The machines may be described as donkey engines placed on flat cars. The cables are run over 

 the tips of huge, convergent beams extending from the end of the flat car into the air to an elevation of 

 35 feet above the rails. The two-line independent skidders, with outhaul lines, but without cable, cost 

 from ■■■•7,000'00 to ---S.OOO'OO, depending on the size of engines and boiler, and the style of truck. The four-line 

 independent skidders range from •■>• 7,50000 to -■>• 12,500'00, without cable. 



The crew required for a modern steam skidder, skidding from two sides simultaneously, consists of 

 2 engineers, 1 fireman, 2 signal men, 4 hook tenders, and 4 whip tenders. The ground covered at one setting 

 is a square at each side of the railroad having sides 900 feet long. 



The machines are self-propelling. Their capacity will actually average, in the pineries of the South, 

 for two-side skidders, 60,000 feet per day. 



Double-end self-propelling ground skidder, without loader. Lidgerwood Mfg. Co., Liberty St., New York. 



