﻿26 BULLETIN 13, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Logging Costs. 



Most of the second-growth pine is sawed by portable mills of 10,000 

 or 15,000 board-feet capacity. These can be moved cheaply from 

 place to place, and a stand of 100,000 board feet usually warrants a 

 set-up. The different parts of the lumbering operation vary some- 

 what in cost, but in New England, with a 9-hour day, would average 

 about as follows per thousand board feet: 



Cutting $1. 25 



Skidding 2. 25 



'Sawing and piling at mill 3. 25 



Insurance at the rate of 1^ per cent per year, or at a less rate for 

 portions of a year, and interest on the logging investment, add to the 

 cost about 25 cents per thousand board feet, and raise the average 

 total cost, exclusive of hauling, to about $7 per thousand. This 

 figure is used in deriving the succeeding tables for stumpage values 

 and profit and loss. The cost would tend to be greater for small and 

 less for large timber. Usually the lumber is air-dried at thejmillfor 

 from 3 to 6 months after being sawed. Cutting is ordinarily done 

 in the winter, sawing in the early spring, and hauling in August, 

 after the haying season, when teams are available. 



On level roads in average condition a good team can haul from 

 1,500 to 2,200 (average 1,800) board feet of air-seasoned 2|-inch 

 white-pine lumber to the wagonload. In many localities a distance 

 from market of from 5 to 11 miles is considered a "one turn" haul. 

 For shorter distances the tendency is to increase the loads and rest 

 the horses oftener, while for long hauls the load might be reduced 

 to 1,200 or 1,300 board feet. A single-horse wagonload usually con- 

 tains from 700 to 900 board feet. 



Hauling from the mill to the market is usually done under contract 

 at either so much per day or at so much per thousand board feet. 

 It is the most variable of the logging costs, since it depends upon the 

 length of the haul, the character of the roads and topography, the 

 wages paid for team and driver, and the amount of lumber that can 

 be hauled at one load. It is, therefore, convenient to determine the 

 cost of hauling in terms of the amount of lumber that can be hauled 

 per day at a given wage rate. Five dollars per day is perhaps the 

 most common rate for team and teamster throughout the northeast. 1 

 This rate is used in Table 9, which shows the cost of hauling and the 

 total cost of logging for different amounts of lumber hauled per day 

 by each team. 



i The influence of different wage rates from $4 to $5.50 on the cost of logging and the stumpage value is 

 discussed in Forest Service Bulletin 90, pages 20-29. 



