LOGGING ENGINEERING 



BY GEO. M. CORNWALL, 

 Editor The Tiinbennan. Portland, Oregon 



need creates the man. The de- 

 velopment of the lumber business 

 of the States of California, Ore- 

 gon, Washington, Idaho, [Montana and 

 the Province of British Columbia, has 

 necessitated a type of rugged woods- 

 men for the removal of the timber from 

 the hills and valleys to the mill pond 

 at a minimum expense. Nature grew 

 lavishly a timber crop in the great West. 

 Here are approximately the figures 

 which denote Nature's generous gift: 



British Columbia_300,000,000,000 to 



100,000,000,000 ft. 



Washington 391,000,000,000 ft. 



Montana- 65,000,000,000 ft. 



Oregon ___ 545,000,000,000 ft. 



Idaho ___ 129,100,000,000 ft. 



California 381,000,000,000 ft. 



Total __ 1,811,100,000,000 ft. 



These figures indicate that the lum- 

 ber business of the Pacific Coast States 

 will endure for a long time, the present 

 output being in the neighborhood of 

 about eight and one-half billion feet 

 annually. 



The timber of the West is found for 

 the most part in comparatively inac- 

 cessible rugged mountain ranges, thus 

 involving difficult engineering prob- 

 lems. In the early stages of the indus- 

 try when the timber lined the banks of 

 the numerous water courses, logging 

 was rendered a comparatively simple 

 and cheap operation. P>ut this condi- 

 tion has passed forever. 



The enormous size of the timber lying 

 directly along the Pacific Coast, includ- 

 ing the towering redwoods running up 

 to 300 feet without a limb, and a di- 

 ameter of 18 feet and over ; the 1 ). lUglas 

 fir (Oregon pine), Menzies' tidcland 

 spruce, cedar and hemlock of the Coast 



regions of California, Oregon and 

 Washington ; and the pine family to be 

 found east of the Cascades and Sierra 

 Nevadas, in Northern California, Cen- 

 tral and Eastern Oregon, Eastern 

 Washington, Idaho and Montana, and 

 the interior of British Columbia, present 

 topographical features that require a 

 bold, daring, aggressive brain to suc- 

 cessfully convert Nature's forest cover 

 to the uses of mankind. 



The primitive picturesque ox team 

 has given way to the steam road. There 

 are approximately 450 logging roads in 

 the West, with an aggregate mileage of 

 about 3500 miles. The number is con- 

 stantly increasing. These roads cost 

 with equipment, from $10,000 to $15,- 

 000 per mile, thus indicating the enor- 

 mous investment in logging railroad 

 equipment, and the necessities for the 

 future. The cost of building these 

 roads has a most direct bearing on the 

 profit of the operation. Here is where 

 the practical logging engineer is invalu- 

 able. His experience enables him to 

 gauge with certainty the factor of safety 

 required, yet keeping the initial cost 

 down to a minimum. The railroad en- 

 gineer generally fails when assigned to 

 this task, as experience has abundantly 

 borne out. lie was trained in a differ- 

 ent school. II is factor of safety would 

 spell financial ruin to man\- an oper- 

 ation, lie forgets to take into account 

 the temporary character of the time he 

 is building; for, outside- of (he main 

 lines, the roads are Umporarv. being 

 moved from time to ini;-.- as occasion 

 requires. 



These natural conditions have re- 

 sulted in the creation ot a type of log- 

 ging engineering unknown an\ where 

 else in the world. There are no 

 parallels. The systems have evolved 

 through sheer necessity. llrawn has 



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