LOGGING IN THE DOUGLAS FIB EEGION. 



35 



side and then to saw on a slant, taking as much wood as possible on 

 the convex side. 



STUMP HEIGHTS. 



Frazier Curtis, writing on stump heights in 1900, implies that 

 the height of stumps in this region at that time ranged from 3 to 



Fig. 6. — Swamping ax. 



Fig. 7. — Bucking wedge. 



5 feet, but that in times past it was customary to cut much higher 

 stumps, some of them running as high as 20 feet. He speaks of one 

 160-acre tract where 2,000,000 feet of sound material had been left 

 in high stumps. 



The practice at the present time is to reduce the height of stumps 

 to . the lowest point practicable. The fact that most companies 

 practice long butting rather than cut high stumps in ques- 

 tionable timber, which means an extra cut, indicates that they prefer 

 to err on the side of labor rather than wood waste. Not all com- 

 panies are so careful, since operations can be found where the 

 stumps are higher than strict economy seems to require. 



As to the average height of the stumps cut in this region, it is 

 difficult to generalize. Taking it straight through, they probably 

 range between 3 and 5 feet. Small, second-growth Douglas fir 

 stumps are cut as low as 2 feet. Old hemlock stumps are frequently 

 cut at seemingly wasteful heights, especially when the company does 

 not follow the practice of long butting. It is not unusual to see 

 old-growth cedar cut higher than 5 feet from the ground. 



The stump heights on timber sales in the national forests of the 

 region are a little lower than those in private cuttings of a like 

 character. The clause relating to stump heights in a contract deal- 

 ing with a recent sale of a body of timber in the Olympic National 

 Forest reads: 



Stumps will be cut so as to cause the least possible waste, and not higher 

 than 24 inches on the side adjacent to the highest ground, except in unusual 

 cases, when, in the discretion of the forest officer in charge, this height is not 

 considered practical. 



LOG LENGTHS. 



Douglas fir is well adapted to the manufacture of long timbers, 

 and supplies a large share of the demand for such material. This 



