52 OUR NATIONAL FORESTS 



into a permanent road. The Engineer connected 

 with each District Office usually has charge of laying 

 out big road projects. A few miles of permanent, 

 good, dirt road with good grade is always preferred 

 to many miles of poor road with heavy grade and 

 improper drainage. A road and trail system is 

 planned for each National Forest which will event- 

 ually place every portion of the Forest within a 

 distance of at least 7% miles of a wagon road. A 

 pack-train can then transport supplies from the 

 point to which they are delivered on the wagon 

 road to any field camp and return in a single day. 



In trail and road construction it is very often 

 necessary to build bridges. Sometimes a very sim- 

 ple log bridge meets the need, but in bridging many 

 large mountain torrents, which become very high 

 and dangerous in the spring, large bridges are 

 necessary. Cable suspension bridges and queen 

 and king truss bridges are built where occasion 

 arises for them, but only after being planned in 

 detail and after the District Forester has approved 

 their design and method of construction. 



Very often navigable streams and lakes are used 

 as a part of the transportation system on a Na- 

 tional Forest. On the Tahoe National Forest in 



