TIMBER-SLIDES. 339 



Owing- to the prolonged use of the principal slides, the bottom 

 pieces get woru-away, and pieces to replace them when necessary 

 should always be kept at hand. 



During the work of sliding, the logs and other pieces of wood 

 which have been collected at the top of the slide during winter, 

 are thrown in, piece after piece, or they may be launched as they 

 arrive at the top of the slide. The work of sliding is generally 

 done by contract-labour. All the wood should be round, except 

 in slides specially made for railway-sleepers or other scantling, 

 and logs should be barked. In clearing the slide of dirt, &c., 

 the men ascend with climbing-irons on their boots. 



In all slides, effective means should be assured of warning 

 men below who may be repairing the slide, before any wood is 

 sent down ; also when sliding has been temporarily stopped 

 and the woodcutters have gone to fetch more wood, the men 

 below should be signalled to continue their repairs. 



[In tlie 'i^ihri-Garhwal railway-sleeper slide, a wire for an electric 

 bell at the top of the slide was provided along the line, and men 

 were stationed at intervals, so that if by any chance the sleepers 

 jammed, the men above might be warned to stop sliding any more 

 sleepers till matters had been set right below. — Tr.] 



In the case of temporary slides, as soon as all the wood lying 

 at the slide-top has been launched, the pieces which have 

 stopped on the way are sent down, and then the pieces of the 

 slide itself are one by one taken up, and sent down the remainder 

 of the slide. Usually the slide leads down to the stream used 

 for floating, into which the wood falls, but if the logs fall on to 

 the ground at the end of the slide, one or two men must be 

 there to roll them out of the way of the succeeding logs, which 

 might cause breakage if they fell on other logs. All this work 

 is very dangerous to people who may be anywhere near the 

 slide, and the workmen must be exceedingly careful to avoid 

 accidents. Sometimes, for instance, a slide crosses a footpath 

 or cart-road, or there may be interruptions in the slide, or 

 difficult places with insufficient gradient, &c. At all such places 

 men must be posted to warn passers-by of danger, and to 

 expedite the logs, &c., which are descending. 



(b) Road-Slides. — In the transport of logs by road-shdes men 

 must be posted along the slide ; they should place fresh trans- 



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