108 ENGINEERING ON THE FARM 



The present process of transforming a tree into usable 

 lumber is nearly uniform regardless of the locality or the 

 final distribution of the product. The actual operation of 

 lumbering may vary according to locality and quantity to 

 be handled. In farming communities where the timber- 

 land is in small tracts merchantable logs are cut in the 

 winter and hauled to the mill or railway. When there is 

 a home or neighborhood demand, logs suitable for the pur- 

 pose at hand are cut and hauled to a convenient point y 

 where a portable sawmill is set up and the required sizes 

 of lumber sawed and used as they come from the mill. 



The bulk of the lumber is produced in the forest areas, 

 in advance of farm improvements, by companies that operate 

 on an extensive scale. Camps are built in the late summer 

 to house large crews of men, who begin in the early fall to 

 fell the trees and cut the logs. Teams of horses attached to 

 one end of the logs drag them to the foot of the hill or slope, 

 where they are piled on timber foundations called skidways. 

 Wide roads are cleared down the draws and along low ground 

 to the nearest stream. As soon as the snow falls it is tramped 

 down in these roads, sprinkled with water, and permitted 

 to freeze, thus making a smooth ice road on which the sleds 

 can run. Over this road the logs are all hauled and piled 

 on the stream bank by the time of the spring thaw. When 

 the streams are clear of ice and while the spring floods are 

 on, a number of logs are rolled into the stream each day 

 and permitted to float with the current. Crews of men 

 patrol the stream, breaking up jams or pushing out logs 

 that may lodge, and keep the whole mass of logs in the 

 current and moving. The floating of the logs is known as 

 driving. Small streams are made available for driving by 

 temporary dams constructed a few miles apart along their 

 course to hold back the water, which is released only as 

 logs are being rolled into the stream. The logs are floated 

 loose until they reach the mill, where they are caught and 

 held by a boom, which is a series of logs chained together 



