FOREST ROADS AND TRAILS 



505 



the grade, the greater the length of the 

 trail and consequently the greater the 

 cost. The greater the amount of brush, 

 the wider the space brushed out and 

 the wider the tread the greater the cost. 

 The cleared space varies from G to 14 

 feet, and the tread varies from 1 to 4 

 feet. Ordinarily a tread of 18 inches 

 is wide enough, for a horse will almost 

 invariably travel on the lower side of 

 a trail and always in the same place, so 

 if the trail is wider than 18 inches the 

 inside will just fill up with sliding ma- 

 terial and the extra cost in excavation 

 will be thrown away. On turns, trails 

 are widened and on switch backs the 

 width is doubled. The trail bed should 

 be flat. Excavation should be made 

 into the bank instead of building up 

 the lower side of the trail, because on 

 steep slopes earth thrown out of the 

 trail makes a poor footing. The nature 

 of the soil affects the cost of excavation. 

 The cost for excavation of sand would 

 probably be the greatest, as the greatest 

 amount of material would have to be 

 taken out. The bank on the upper side 

 of an excavation should slope away 



from the trail, the angle differing with 

 the nature of the soil, as follows: 



Sand, angle of repose_23>^ or 43% 

 Earth, angle of repose_33 or 65% 

 Dry clay, angle of re- 

 pose 45 or 100% 



The greater the cost of labor the 

 greater the cost of the trail to a certain 

 extent. In some cases it is cheaper to 

 hire a good crew and pay them good 

 wages than to hire an inefficient crew 

 at a low wage. The greater the dis- 

 tance the men walk to work the greater 

 the cost of the trail, because even when 

 the time of going to and from work is 

 taken outside of the regular eight-hour 

 day, which is usually the case, a large 

 amount of walking and climbing before 

 and after work will tire and worry the 

 crew so that they will not be as efficient 

 as otherwise. The supervision of the 

 crew is the most important factor of 

 all because, if the w r ork is not arranged 

 as it should be, the trail will be expen- 

 sive under the most favorable condi- 

 tions. 



PINE CLAD SLOPES WITH CLIFF ABOVE. 



