Forest Roads and Trails 85 



trail, the angle differing with the nature of the soil, as follows : 



Sand, angle of repose 23y 2 or 43% 



Earth, angle of repose 33 or 65% 



Dry clay, angle of repose 45 or 100% 



The greater the cost of labor the greater the cost of the 

 trail to a certain extent. In some cases it is cheaper to hire 

 a good crew and pay them good wages than to hire an ineffi- 

 cient crew at a low wage. The greater the distance the men 

 walk to work the greater the cost of the trail because even 

 when the time of going to and from work is taken outside of 

 the regular eight hour day, which is usually the case, a large 

 amount of walking and climbing before and after work will 

 tire and worry the crew so that they will not be as efficient as 

 otherwise. The supervision of the crew is the most important 

 factor of all because if the work is not arranged as it should be 

 the trail will be expensive under the most favorable conditions. 

 The size of the crews varies from 2 to 15 men. In crews 

 of 8 to 15 men it is necessary to have a cook, a packer, and a 

 foreman. The brushing out can be done by 2 to 4 men while 

 5 to 8 can do the grading. Small crews vary from 2 to 5 men. 

 The men do their own cooking and a ranger has general super- 

 vision over the work. The tools ordinarily used are axes and 

 brush hooks for brushing out; cant hooks and peavies for 

 moving logs; shovels, picks, and mattocks for grading. 

 Where small crews are at work and the slopes are not too steep 

 the trail is brushed and blazed, and left in that condition for 

 travel to cut out the tread. A method similar to this was 

 followed in connection with the Gila reconnaissance work in 

 New Mexico in the summer of .1911. The reconnaissance 

 party was working in a fairly open country in which there 

 were scarcely any trails. The packers were sent ahead to 

 locate a route to the next camp and to blaze and brush out the 

 trail to a width of about 4 feet. Then when the pack outfit, 

 which consisted of about 18 burros and 2 horses went over 

 this route it would be fairly well cut out so that with a little 

 extra work a good trail could be built. 



On side-hill locations where water will run down a trail, 

 it is always best to put in water bars, that is, small ditches 

 2 inches to 4 inches deep running diagonally across the trail 

 and banked on the lower side with earth or a small log sunk 



