LOGGING IN THE DOUGLAS FIR REGION. 5 



A camp may be made up of one or more sides, a side consisting of 

 the crew and machinery necessary to handle the logs from one yard- 

 ing engine. Where a number of engines are found at a side, each 

 side may constitute a camp. A camp may include as many as four 

 sides when only one or two engines are used at a side. It is difficult 

 to generalize regarding this matter. 



The output of a side, varying as it does with the yarding output, 

 ranges generally from 40,000 to 80,000 feet per day. 



STEPS IN AN OPERATION. 



Powerful steam machinery is the most prominent feature of the 

 logging operations of the Douglas fir region. The timber is large, 

 the ground rough, ruggedj, and covered with bushes, so that some 

 form of power logging is necessary. Logging with animals is con- 

 fined for the most part to the logging of ties, bolts, piles, and poles. 



The investments in logging plants are strikingly large. At pres- 

 ent more capital is invested for improvements and equipment in 

 Pacific coast logging operations than in similar operations in any 

 other region of the United States, taking output into consideration. 

 Therefore operators have to plan their work a long time in advance 

 and be conversant with the most approved methods, not to mention 

 mastering the maze of details in any enterprise conducted on a large 

 scale. 



The work in every department is specialized, each requiring a few 

 technically trained men and a large percentage of skilled workmen. 

 This is made necessary by the size of the operations, the complexity 

 of the methods and equipment used, and the timber-utilization prob- 

 lems encountered. Trees 6, 8, or 10 feet in diameter, standing on 

 rough, steep ground, are felled and converted into logs in such a way 

 that a minimum of waste results; and logs, some of them scaling 

 10,000 board feet and weighing 30 tons, are dragged with great 

 dispatch over the ground or swung down steep slopes and over deep 

 canyons on overhead cables. 



The term " logging," as commonly used, covers all the work of 

 handling logs from standing timber to the sawmill. It can be 

 divided into several steps. These, as well as the methods and equip- 

 ment used, are not always distinctive, so that the subject is very 

 involved and a classified treatment is essential. In this bulletin each 

 step is treated separately in the order in which it occurs, which is as 

 follows : 



1. Felling and bucking. 



2. Yarding, swinging, and reading. 



3. Loading. 



4. Railroad transportation. 



