68 SOUTHERN BOTTOMLANDS 



dry enough steam railways may be used supplemented by horse 

 skidders or steam skidders. A cheap and effective way is to 

 mount the steam skidder on a flat boat equipped with a steam 

 shovel so that it may dig its own channel. Then the skidded 

 logs are dropped into the cleared waterway behind the scow and 

 floated out to the main stream. The primitive method, but still 

 often employed, is to deaden the timber in the early fall, allow it 

 to season all winter and then float it out during the spring freshets 

 in " roads," so called, which are lanes cut thru the timber during 

 dry weather so that the logs may be floated out. Of course, the 

 main disadvantage of this method is the fact that each step in 

 the operation must wait for suitable weather conditions. Time 

 is money in logging as well as in other industries. 



Bottomland lumber operations are most economically con- 

 ducted in large camps because the swamps are inaccessible from 

 ordinary habitations. 



The average costs per M in 19 14 for the different steps may be 

 summarized as follows: 



PerM 



Deadening $0. 15 



Felling and logmaking o. 60 



Skidding 3. 25 



Hauling or driving to mill i . 00 



Milling and kilndrying 4.00 



$9- 00 



A fair day's work for a crew of two men felling and bucking 

 cjrpress is 7M. Red gum is harder so that 4M per day is normal. 

 Cottonwood, tupelo gum, and ash come in between these two. 

 Hence the cost in man hours would be as follows: 



Man hours per M 



CjT^ress 2 J 



Cottonwood 3 



Tupelo gum 3 



White ash 3 



Red gum 4 



The cost to the mill likewise varies with the species. Those that 

 float can be transported for eight man hours per M while those 

 that must be hauled five miles will cost about six man hours and 



