LUMBERIIsrG IN PINE EEGION OF CALIFOENIA. 21 



The horse and harness equipment is substantially the same as for 

 horse skidding. Each swamper and knotter requires an ax and each 

 gopher an ax and shovel. Each bunching team requires a pair of 

 spreaders, a pair of tongs, and a rolling hook. 



Operation. — The operation begins with swamping, which may- 

 consist simply of moving the Umbs out of the way or may involve 

 cutting a broad road to each tree through thick manzanita and snow- 

 brush. Where there is little or no underbrush, about one swamper 

 is required to each two pairs of wheels, which means in a camp 

 turning out 120,000 daily a crew of four men at a daily labor cost of 

 $10, or 8 cents per 1,000. In thick brush, a foreman and 16 men are 

 required for an operation of the same size. The labor cost is $38.75 

 daily, or 32 cents per 1,000. Thus, the swamping cost is about as 

 follows: Stands without underbrush, 10 cents per 1,000; stands with 

 heavy underbrush, 20 cents per 1,000; and stands with very heavy 

 underbrush, 30 cents per 1,000. Swamping for slip-tongue big wheels 

 usually costs a trifle more, because more room is required for turning. 



After swamping is completed, the logs are bunched; i. e., they are 

 broken apart and dragged or rolled into position for the wheels. 

 This may vary slightly according to the wheel used, because slip- 

 tongue big wheels usually carry bigger loads. Under favorable 

 conditions, two bunch teams supply seven stiff-tongue big wheels, 

 and under ordinary conditions should serve six. With each bunch 

 team is a teamster, a hooker, a gopher, and a knotter. The knotter 

 trims off all limbs remaining on the logs and assists the gopher in 

 making an opening under each load for the binding chain. 



Stiff-tongue big wheels are used to advantage on slopes from level 

 up to 12 per cent; and, when it is necessary, may be used on 15 per 

 cent slopes. Work on heavier slopes is not practicable. The maxi- 

 mum hauling distance for efficient work is about one-fourth mile, 

 though sometimes one-half mile and longer hauls are made. Under 

 ordinary conditions one two-horse team is sufficient for each set of 

 wheels. On the out trip the team is hitched on the tongue in the 

 usual manner, and when the load is reached the wheels are -backed 

 over it. The tongue is then elevated to a perpendicular position and 

 a binding chain passed underneath the logs and attached to the axle 

 on either sido. The team then pulls the tongue to the horizontal, 

 which tightens the binding chain and raises the logs from the ground. 

 The front end of t}i(» load of logs and the end of the tongue ar<^ tlKUi 

 bound together with a light(!r chain; the t(!am is hitched short up to 

 the end of the tongue; and the load is ready to proceed. 



In small open yellow-pin(i tindxir when* th<i slopes are gentle but 

 broken l^y pitch<!S, two pairs of stifr-tongu<* big wh<i<!ls yai'ding as 

 far as 1,200 feet put in 22,000 daily. The average load consists of 

 about 600 fi'cX, tlie linibei- running about, four logs to th<i thousand. 



