TIMBER VALUATION 143 



progress when the trees are close together even tho not large. 

 In fact 20 strip acres a day is a good average. Hence, the 

 cost per acre can seldom be brought down less than 5 cents even 

 on tracts of more than 1000 acres. For smaller tracts it would 

 of course be more. 



The typical logging job is handled much as follows: A crew 

 of two to five men agree to put the logs into the water for $3 to 

 $5 per M. After felling the tops are lopped and the tree put full 

 length into the water. In the early days there was plenty of 

 timber that could be either felled directly into tidewater or 

 warped to the high water mark by hand. But most of these 

 chances are gone now and it is more common to use the slack rope 

 system of power skidding with a donkey engine mounted on a 

 scow. In this way a distance of 900 feet can be covered. 



Once landed in the water it is generally an easy matter to 

 gather the logs into a raft and tow them to the sawmill which is 

 also located on tidewater. To get fair weather for these opera- 

 tions logging is usually confined to the summer months. At the 

 mill the full length logs are bucked and then passed by the saw, 

 edger, trimmer, etc. Seldom can lumber be manufactured for 

 less than $15 per M where all expenses are included. 



Sitka spruce, the commonest species, cuts the following per- 

 centages of grades on the average: 



Per cent 



Clear 15 



No. I common 20 



No. 2 IS 



Box 20 



Dimension 20 



CuU 5 



95 



For the mill run the pre-war price was $15 per M but the demand 

 for airplane spruce has, of course, forced this up. For hemlock 

 the demand has been and is less so that the mill run value is at 

 least $2 lower. Cedar goes mostly into shingles where it has 

 brought a mill run wholesale price of about $18 per M. Con- 

 sequently there is a very small margin for stumpage and profit. 



