276 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



A CLYDE LOG LOADER AT WORK 



Rolling logs is now out of date and is the last resort of the unfortunate operator. 

 the logs and swings them on the cars in less time than it would take an old 

 pick the place to grab "holt." This scene is in Arkansas. 



rafts have been 

 regulated, to a 

 considerable 

 extent, by the 

 depth of the 

 water that was 

 to float them. 

 No raft moves 

 against the cur- 

 rent, unless 

 temporarily un- 

 der the force 

 of a strong 

 wind, or unless 

 it is towed by 

 a boat. But 

 rafts are towed 

 in still water, 

 and even upon 

 the ocean it- 

 self. The larg- 

 est rafts ever 

 built have been 

 for ocean navi- 

 g a t i o n . Old 

 raftsmen used 

 to say: "On 

 small rivers the size of a raft is measured by the number 

 of the logs it contains, but on the Ohio rafts are meas- 

 ured by the acre." 



Logs sent singly down floatable streams must not only 

 reach their destination, but they must stop there. Booms 

 are built to stop 

 them. These 

 contri vances 

 are made of 

 logs ch a i ned 

 end to end and 

 stretched across 

 the river, sup- 

 ported at inter- 

 vals by wing- 

 walls and piers. 

 The logs which 

 float down the 

 stream lodge 

 against the 

 boom. If the 

 current is 

 strong and the 

 number of logs 

 great, they pile 

 high against 

 the obstruction, 

 standing on end 

 and at all an- 

 gles, and filling 

 the channel of 

 the river from 



The steam loader lifts 

 time canthook man to 



transport their logs 

 grown up gradually. 



NEXT BEST THING TO A STEAM LOADER 



Wisconsin loners are here seen putting the finishing touches on a fairly generous sledload of hemlock 

 logs. The sticks are rolled up the steep skids by horsepower. This is counted as very dangerous work 

 and green hands are not permitted to do it. The snap of a chain may be fatal. 



bank to bank. 

 Too often the 

 booms prove 

 unequal to the 

 terrible strain 

 and give way, 

 freeing the logs 

 which may float 

 beyond recov- 

 ery, causing a 

 loss that em- 

 barras s e s or 

 bankrupts the 

 owner. Read- 

 ers of "The 

 Blazed Trail," 

 by Stewart Ed- 

 ward White 

 have a graphic 

 account of the 

 breaking of a 

 boom and of 

 what it means 

 to the owner. 



Most large 

 lumber opera- 

 t i ons now 

 on railroads. This practice has 

 The number of logs to be carried 

 must be large before the expense of building a railroad 

 is justified, but when the operation is of sufficient size, 

 the movement by rail is economical. Many large mills 



could not pos- 

 sibly be sup- 

 plied in any 

 other way. 



The begin- 

 ning of logging 

 by rail was 

 over wooden 

 tramroads, and 

 a horse or a 

 mule furnished 

 the motive 

 power. That 

 would be look- 

 ed upon as 

 slow now, but 

 it was a nota- 

 ble improve- 

 ment upon the 

 custom of drag- 

 ging the logs 

 along the 

 ground with 

 chains and 

 hooks, or upon 

 sleds or carts. 

 The wooden 



