32 BULLETIN 440, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTTJRE. 



The greater portion of bhe wood used consists of limbs, especially 

 sugar pine, cut into lengths on the ground. This hmb wood may be 

 carried to the yarder by the woodbuck or packed on a mule for small 

 machines. For larger machines, it may be dragged on a sled by 

 either one or two horses, or hauled in a two-horse cart. In a few 

 instances in the northern Sierras sound Douglas fir logs are cut by 

 hand into fuel at the yarder. Some companies use slab wood cut at 

 the mill and hauled to the woods on logging flats. Still others cut 

 wood from white fir, aUow it to season, and then dehver it to the 

 yarders on flat cars. 



The cost of supplying fuel at one of the smaller compound engines 

 is the time of one man and a horse, or about $3.50 per day. At the 

 10 by 11 inch and 10 by 13 inch machines, on the East Slope, burning 

 slab wood, the cost is about $4.25 per day for the time of one man 

 and the handhng of from 1| to 2 cords at each machine. Where the 

 spUt fir wood is used, the amount required daily for a 10 by lOJ 

 machine is 2 cords, costing $2 each. The large 11 by 13 inch yarders 

 require about two men and a horse to furnish Hmb wood, at a cost 

 of $5.50 per day. Similarly the 12 by 14 inch machines on long 

 settings require two men and a hght team at a cost of $6.50 per day. 



The first method of supplying water to donkey engine boilers 

 was by packing in water bags on mules. One waterbuck and mule 

 is required for smaU boilers, at a daily cost of $3.25. Large boilers 

 require double the force. At present this method is relegated to 

 donkeys used on raihoad and chute construction, and donkey engines 

 are supphed almost universaUy by water conveyed in pipes. Where 

 water is abundant, about one-half of the machines can be supphed 

 by gravity. Where water is less plentiful, from three-fourths to aU 

 of the machines must be supphed by pumping. The cost depends 

 upon the distance water must be piped and the number of machines 

 that can be supplied from one pump. Usually two or three machines 

 can be reached from a pump, and the daily cost for hire of pump- 

 man, repairs to pump, and the prorated cost of stringing pipe, is 

 from $1.50 to $2 per machine. The depreciation on pipe and pump 

 varies from 44 cents to 75 cents per day. In localities where water 

 is scarce the best method of supplying water is by means of tank 

 cars. The daily cost, including hauling and depreciation, is from $3 

 to $3.50 per machine. 



Maintenance. — ^A very considerable cost in yarding is the main- 

 tenance of the cables. The life of a main fine varies from one- 

 half to IJ seasons, depending upon the usage, the amount logged, 

 the amount of rocks, and the general difficulty of logging. 

 Under the favorable conditions in the yeUow pine in the eastern 

 Sierras, a l|-inch main fine wiU last from one to two months more 

 than a season and a back fine two or ijhree seasons. The average 



