LUMBERING IN PINE REGION OF CALIFORNIA. 49 



Construction. — The first step in railroad construction, following 

 the final survey, is the clearing of the right of way by felling all trees 

 and cutting out all brush and reproduction. The usual clearing crew 

 is two men, who, under ordinary conditions, clear from 1 to 1| miles 

 of narrow-gauge right of way per month. Saws and axes are used 

 for felling and swamping, and after the trees are felled the butt logs 

 are bucked ofi" and rolled outside the right of way with jackscrews. 



In ordinary sugar and yellow pine stands the cost of clearing the 

 right of way ranges from S40 to S45 per acre. The average width of 

 clearing for a narrow-gauge road is from 20 feet for flat country to 30 

 feet in broken country. The former is about 2^ acres per mile and 

 the latter about 3f . Under like conditions the clearing for a standard- 

 gauge road may be 5 or 10 feet wider. The cost for a narrow-gauge 

 right of way is ordmarily from $100 to $160 per mile, and for a 

 standard-gauge from $125 to $200 per mile. 



Before grading is commenced all stumps which will interfere with 

 excavation for the roadbed must be removed. This is usually done 

 by blasting with 5 per cent blasting powder. An iron bar is driven 

 under each stump and a small piece of giant powder exploded at the 

 bottom of the hole. The cavity thus formed is loaded with blasting 

 powder, and the explosion of this charge blows out the stump. 

 Average loads are one-fourth box (12^ pounds) for a 12 to 16 inch 

 stump, 1 box for a 30 to 36 inch stump, and from 2 to 2^ boxes for a 

 60-inch stump. Yellow pine is the most difficult to blast out and 

 sugar pine and incense cedar the easiest in about the ratio of 1^ 

 boxes for a 30-inch yellow pine to three-fom'ths box for a 30-inch 

 incense cedar. 



Blasting powder comes in 50-pound boxes, which cost from $3.25 

 to $3.75 each delivered on the works. Counting in a man's labor for 

 from one to two hours, caps, a stick and a half of giant powder, and 

 the necessary fuse, the cost of removing a 36-inch pine stump is from 

 $4 to $5. The cost of blasting stumps per mile varies with the 

 species, number, and size of the stumps. In normal sugar and yellow 

 pine stands it averages from $200 to $250 per mile, respectively, for 

 narrow and standard gauge. Some miles run as high as $400 each. 



When the stumps have been removed the right of way is ready 

 for the grading of the road])ed. The width of the roadl)ed varies 

 from 11 to 1 2 ffet for narrow gaug(; and from 13 to 1 4 feet for standard 

 gauge. Sidchill cuts are commonly made in such a manner that two- 

 thirds (jf the width of the roadbed is a solid cut and the remainder 

 a fill. In most cuts the sides are sloped at onci-lialf to one, which is 

 the equivalent of a horizontal distance of (i iiichcs to u vortical dis- 

 tance of 1 foot, [n very soft soil it may Ix; necessary to use a slope 

 57172^— Bull. 440—17 1 



