278 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



and other factors ; but nearly all logs when green weigh 

 two or three times as much as the lumber which is cut 

 from them will weigh when dry. That fact is duly con- 

 sidered when planning the transportation of logs long 

 distances. There is a limit in distance beyond which 

 green logs cannot be hauled profitably because of the 

 accumulation of freight 

 charges. It may become 

 more economical to build 

 the mill near the log sup- 

 ply, and haul the seasoned 

 lumber to market. Were it 

 not for the cost of hauling 

 the green logs so far, large 

 sawmills would be built in 

 cities like New York and 

 Chicago, where the lumber 

 when sawed would already 

 be at the market, and the 

 slabs, sawdust, and other 

 scraps would be salable. A 

 precise limit cannot be set 

 to the distance that green 

 sawlogs may be profitably 

 hauled. Circumstances 

 must determine the ques- 

 tion in each instance; but 

 the fact that green logs are 

 being hauled more than a 

 hundred miles in a number 

 of instances is proof that sawmills are able to draw sup- 

 plies of logs from areas of more than 25,000 square miles 

 in extent. Figures like these would have been regarded as 

 preposterous by the pioneer sawmill men who thought 

 it a hardship to haul logs a mile to supply their mills. 

 In some instances sawlogs are hauled nearly a thou- 

 sand miles by rail before passing through a sawmill, 



WHEN THE LOG SKIDDER HAS PASSED ON 



What chance would oxen, or even logging railroads have to get logs out 

 of this swamp near Quitman, Georgia. But it is no trouble for the steam 

 skidder. The work has been done here and the machine has passed on 

 to other operations. Without the skidder logging in such swamps would 

 be practically impossible. 



but this happens only with logs of unusual value. It is 

 more common with mahogany than with any others. Logs 

 of this wood may be landed at New York or at New 

 Orleans from Africa or Central America, and thence 

 they are carried by the railroads to Louisville, Cincinnati, 

 St. Louis, or Chicago, to be converted into lumber or 



veneer. The wood's great 

 value renders the freight 

 charge of relative small 

 moment, and it is found 

 more profitable to carry the 

 logs to the market centers 

 than to convert them into 

 finished products at dis- 

 tant points, and afterwards 

 haul the products. It is not 

 unusual to transport ma- 

 hogany, Circassian walnut, 

 teak, rosewood, and ebony 

 logs five thousand or even 

 ten thousand miles to reach 

 a sawmill ; but that is out of 

 the question with woods of 

 less value. In most cases it 

 is good business to convert 

 sawlogs into lumber as near 

 as circumstances will allow 

 to the place where the trees 

 grew; but if there is water 

 carriage, the distance is of 

 less importance because freight rates by water are usual- 

 ly low. 



The owner or prospective purchaser of a skidway of 

 logs, or logs on a landing or in the woods, or a boom 

 filled with logs, may wish to know how much lumber the 

 logs will cut. To measure the size and calculate the con- 

 tents of each log separately would be an almost intermi- 



A LOUISIANA LOG DUMP 



IT. e , , . , ?. P lf-!. l S!^ 0r i-.'lf. I !! ill ^ f J he H"" % ,ut . h 7 n Lumber Company at Bogalusa, Louisiana, is a first-class proposition. The logs are rolled 

 flat car. down skids into the pond and are floated to the mill a few hundred yards distant. Few ponds in the United States receive so 

 logs as this. Most of them are yellow pine. 



from 

 many 



