506 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



A DENSE MIXED FOREST. A ROCKY LEDGE HIGH 

 ABOVE THE BIRCHES. ASPENS AND PINES. 



The size of the crews varies from 2 

 to 15 men. In crews of 8 to 15 men 

 it is necessary to have a cook, a packer, 

 and a foreman. The brushing out can 

 be done by 2 to 4 men while 5 to 8 can 

 do the grading. Small crews vary 

 from 2 to 5 men. The men do their 

 own cooking and a ranger has general 

 supervision over the work. The tools 

 ordinarily used are axes and brush 

 hooks for brushing out ; cant hooks 

 and peavies for moving logs ; shovels, 

 picks, and mattocks for grading. 

 Where small crews are at work 

 and the slopes are not too steep the 

 trail is brushed and blazed, and left in 

 that condition for travel to cut out the 

 tread. A method similar to this was 

 followed in connection with the Gila 

 reconnaissance work in New Mexico in 

 the summer of 1911. The reconnais- 

 sance party was working in a fairly 

 open country in which there were 

 scarcely any trails. The packers were 

 sent ahead to locate a route to the next 

 camp and to blaze and brush out the 

 trail to a width of about 4 feet. Then 



when the pack outfit, which consisted 

 of about 18 burros and 2 horses, went 

 over this route it would be fairly well 

 cut out so that with a little extra work 

 a good trail could be built. 



On side-hill locations where water 

 will run down a trail, it is always best 

 to put in water bars, that is, small 

 ditches 2 inches to 4 inches deep run- 

 ning diagonally across the trail and 

 banked on the lower side with earth 

 or a small log sunk a few inches in the 

 ground. These will turn the water and 

 prevent any great amount of washing, 

 which might ruin a trail. The number 

 of water bars will vary with the grade 

 of the trail and the degree of slope of 

 the side hill on which the trail is located. 

 It is much cheaper to put them in when 

 building the trail than afterwards. 

 Under ordinary conditions they can be 

 located from 50 to 75 yards apart. 



In locating a trail, cliffs and rocky 

 outcrops should be avoided because- 

 powder work is very expensive. Oc- 

 casionally when a trail affords so many 

 advantages that a high cost is permis- 



