THE SPECIAL FUEL SUPPLY SERVICE 347 



in fact, the logging railroad demonstrated its superiority, where topog- 

 raphy was favorable, even for sets as small as 6,000,000 feet. A difficult 

 area in the Vosges Mountains was logged by means of a 4,000-foot meter 

 gauge incline, with an average grade of 35 per cent, down which carloads 

 of logs were lowered by donkey engine and cable. 



The light railway sectional track, of various gauges 2 feet and under, 

 used by the Army at the front, was employed in many forestry operations. 

 It rendered good service in handling light products, like poles and fuel 

 wood, and was used successfully at several operations for transporting 

 logs. It was often preferable for small jobs because laying and removal 

 were so fast. For extended operations, however, the forestry officers 

 found that 3-foot gauge track laid with 25 or 40 pound steel saved time 

 and cost in the long run. When our real 3-foot gauge rolling stock 

 arrived and steel rails were available in sufficient quantities the difficulties 

 of the forestry operations were materially reduced. 



THE PRODUCTION OF FUEL WOOD 



An Enormous Problem in Itself. Supplying the American Army with 

 fuel wood was a special problem in itself, whose proportions increased 

 from month to month practically in a fixed ratio to the increase in the 

 number of American soldiers in France. Considerable supplies of fuel 

 wood were obtained from French stocks. Cutting the added amounts 

 needed was not a serious matter during the first winter of American 

 operations, but became an enormous task during the fall and winter of 

 1918-19. The monthly production necessary to keep the Army warm 

 and fed reached the figure of 287,000 cubic meters in December, 1918. 



Fuel Wood Cut by the Forest Engineers. The forest engineers them- 

 selves cut large quantities of fuel as a by-product in all their operations. 

 It was obtained not only from mill slabs and edgings and from treetops, 

 but also from the dense stands of sprouts which covered the ground in 

 most of the hardwood forests which were operated and which had to be 

 swamped out in logging the large timber. By April 1, 1919, the Forestry 

 Section produced 1,195,000 cubic meters of fuel wood. Owing to the 

 shortage of transport, however, but 50 per cent of this amount could be 

 moved to the points where it was needed. The supplemental production 

 of fuel wood was essential and it had to be localized, particularly in the 

 Advance Section, in the immediate vicinity of the larger bodies of troops. 



The Special Fuel Supply Service. During the first winter this was 

 done under the direction of the Quartermaster Corps by employing 

 civilian labor, by details from combat organizations, and by the assign- 

 ment of a few companies of infantry to this particular duty. The use of 

 combat troops for this work proved unsatisfactory and led invariably 



