502 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



A FIRE LINK IX WISCONSIN, USED AS A ROAD. 



ing these trails was accessibility. At 

 present the main objects besides (1) 

 accessibility, are, (2) administrative 

 purposes, (3) routes for packing pur- 

 poses (to mining camps, etc.), (4) 

 pleasure (scenic trails), (5) fire lines, 

 to a small extent, and (6) stock trails. 

 The forest should be made accessible so 

 that any part can be reached in a reason- 

 able amount of time and routes of travel 

 should be made for administration. Oc- 

 casionally trails are built by private 

 parties to provide a route for packing 

 purposes, to remote mining camps. 

 Scenic trails are built either by the State 

 or by private parties, for both pleasure 

 and accessibility. Trails are also used 

 for fire lines, but due to their narrow- 

 ness are not of great value for this pur- 

 pose. Stock trails are built for moving 

 stock over rough country from one 

 range to another. 



USES OF ROADS 



The first roads constructed in the 

 forest regions of the west were built 

 for stage lines and for freighting pur- 

 poses ; logging had not been developed 

 to any extent in the Rocky Mountains. 

 At present the purposes of building 

 roads are for (1) freighting, (2) log- 

 ging, (3) stage lines, (4) pleasure, (5) 

 fire lines. Freighting is a very impor- 



tant item where camps and towns on 

 a forest are located at a distance from 

 the railroad. Where logging is going 

 on in the Rocky Mountains, roads must 

 be built on account of the extreme 

 roughness of the country. Roads, be- 

 cause of their greater width, are well 

 adapted for use as fire lines. In more 

 level regions fire lines can be used as 

 roads. 



CONSTRUCTION OF TRAILS 



Trails on the forest at present may 

 be classified as: (1) main trails, (2) 

 secondary trails, (3) spur trails. Main 

 trails are those connecting ranger dis- 

 tricts of the forest. They should be 

 well worked, well brushed out and well 

 blazed, and should have a fairly wide 

 tread with a maximum grade of from 

 ten to twelve per cent, for most of the 

 traveling in the district will be on them. 

 Secondary trails are those connecting 

 the main trails. They should also be 

 fairly well worked and blazed, and have 

 a maximum grade of twelve to fifteen 

 per cent. Spur trails are usually short 

 trails connecting lookouts with the more 

 important trails. These spur trails are 

 used only by the fire guards and there- 

 fore it is not necessary to do a great 

 deal of work on them. They can be 

 blind trails and need only be brushed 



