LUMBERING IN PUSTE REGION" OP CALIFORNIA. 51 



logging roads. Steam shovels may also be put to good use in loading 

 gravel for ballast. A 1 J-yard dipper steam shovel suitable for heavy 

 work costs S8,060 at San Francisco. A smaller revolving shovel with 

 a seven-eighth-yard dipper costs $5,640. 



SoHd rock and loose rock that can not be loosened with a pick must 

 be broken up by blasting before excavation. Hand drills are used 

 in making the required shot holes. These holes are loaded with sticks 

 of liigh-grade giant powder, costing 11 or 12 cents per pound, and the 

 charges exploded by caps and fuse. Soft rock and decomposed 

 granite are often blasted more effectively by loading burrows with 

 large quantities of low-grade powder, such as is used for removing 

 stumps. 



Average costs may be calculated by classifying the material to be 

 moved. Light earthwork on spurs and in smooth regions can 

 usually be done at an average cost of from 15 to 25 cents per cubic 

 yard in place. Heavier dirt work will average from 30 to 40 cents 

 per yard. Ordinary earthwork with a moderate amount of soft 

 rock averages from 40 to 50 cents per yard. The cost of grading 

 with a normal amount of rock ordinarily averages from 50 to 60 

 cents per yard. Most of the logging roads on the west slope of the 

 Sierras are graded at this average cost. Soft rock requires an 

 expenditure of about 75 cents per yard and removing solid rock 

 costs $1 or more per yard. 



The easiest grading occurs in the flat sugar and yellow pine stands 

 of the northeastern part of the State, where the average cost for 

 standard-gauge spm^s is often about $800 per mile. Some miles are 

 graded for as low as $200 or $300. The next cheapest work is in the 

 yellow pine of the eastern Sierras, where, in moderately rolling 

 regions, the average cost is from $900 to $1,000 per mile. For the 

 easier grading in moderately rough regions on the west side of the 

 Sierras, where about from 50 to 70 yards are removed per station, 

 the cost Ls from $1,500 to $2,000 per mile. The average cost m this 

 part of the region for fairly rough localities is from $3,000 to $4,000 

 per mile. The steeper and rougher regions necessitate an average 

 grading cost of from $5,000 to $5,500, and on some lines the cost may 

 be as high as $7,000 per mile. An unusually large ainomit of rock- 

 work nms the cost of some miles up to $12,000. For most of the 

 sugar pine stands th(^ average; cost of grading main lines and s])urs is 

 bctwceen $3,500 and $5,000 ]wr mile. The oost of gniding a narrow- 

 gaugf! roadbed is from 10 to 20 ])o.i' c(^nt less than a standard gauge. 



For t(;mp(jrary lines it is frequenl-ly chea])(;r to construct cribbings 

 or trestles than lilis. (Jribbings an; UHod in shallow (l('])rossions, and 

 consist of larg(! logs laid at right angles to tlui track 12 feet apart 

 from ccnivr to center, Tw(j other logs an^ laid l(;ngth\vise on these 

 for stringf^rs. ^fhe cost for an uvenigo h(!igli(. of lioin 4\ to 5 f(ud, is 



