THE SPRUCE REGION 241 



and pond may come a few logs. These small additions accumu- 

 late and when the "drive" reaches the main river it may total 

 millions of feet. 



As many owners of logs are represented in the drive on a single 

 large stream it is manifestly impossible to keep the logs owned 

 by each man separate. To save expense, log-driving associa- 

 tions have been incorporated, whose function it is to handle all 

 logs on a drive over a given route, and charge the individual 

 owner pro rata on the amount of timber driven. Each owner 

 stamps his logs with a distinctive mark, so that a given lot of 

 logs can be sorted out from the others whenever desired. The 

 establishment of these associations has been instrumental in 

 lessening the cost of driving. 



Another method of taking logs from the skidways to the mill 

 is by rail, where a tract is conveniently situated with reference 

 to an established railroad line. There has been no general intro- 

 duction of logging railroads, built especially for logging purposes, 

 as is frequently the case in other parts of the country. There 

 are, however, a few examples of logging railroads mainly in places 

 where river driving is unusually expensive, or impossible. This 

 method of transportation for softwood logs will never, under 

 ordinary conditions, take the place of river driving. 



The natural advantages favoring cheap river driving are one 

 factor but not the only one against construction of logging rail- 

 roads. Another reason is that the stands of timber do not 

 average high enough per acre over large tracts to justify railroad 

 building. Were there extensive areas to be stripped clean the 

 stand of timber might be heavy enough to justify such an invest- 

 ment, but with the selection type of forest prevaihng, the timber 

 is too light for railroad logging. In some sections of the United 

 States an incentive to the construction of a logging railroad is 

 found in the fact that after the timber is cut the land may be 

 used for agriculture and the railroad may develop into an ordi- 

 nary common carrier. In the spruce region this is not true, 

 because the soil is essentially forest soil, with no possibility of 

 extensive, permanent agriculture. 



