LOGGING IN THE DOUGLAS FIR REGION. 61 



(1) Methods. — As will be shown later, each of the different 

 methods is adapted to specific sets of conditions. As a practical 

 logging question, however, it is not always clear which method 

 should be employed. For example, one operator may be securing 

 as good results with the ground method as another operator is se- 

 curing with the high-lead or overhead method, under practically the 

 same conditions. In some cases, the use of the best method may be 

 out of the question because a machine adapted for it is not at hand, 

 and the amount of timber to be moved does not justify the purchase 

 of new equipment. 



(2) Yarding direction as it relates to the slofe of the ground. — 

 With any method the yarding output is largest on level ground, or 

 on ground sloping moderately toward the yarding engine. The 

 drawback to yarding logs downhill with a ground method is that as 

 soon as gravity carries the low forward faster than the haul-in or 

 main line is traveling, the tendency is for the log or logs to run out 

 of their chokers or to run behind stumps or debris on the side oppo- 

 site to that on which the line is leading. As a general thing the out- 

 put with a ground method is from 30 to 50 per cent higher when 

 the logs are moved uphill than when they are moved downhill ; as- 

 suming, of course, that the ground in question is steep enough in 

 places to cause the logs to run when being yarded downhill, and that 

 the equipment is powerful enough to handle the logs uphill with 

 dispatch. Overhead yarding methods, taking them straight through, 

 work better downhill than uphill. In fact, this method is especially 

 adapted for yarding logs down long, steep slopes. 



(3) Size of timber. — With the same conditions and within certain 

 limits, the yarding output is less and the load that can be yarded at 

 one trip is less in small timber than in large. A certain amount of 

 time is consumed in making a yarding trip regardless of the number 

 of logs or the volume of timber hauled, since in any event approxi- 

 mately the same amount of time is lost in hooking up, starting, un- 

 hooking, and returning the trip line to the woods. Logs of large 

 diameter, assuming that the motive power is ample, are less likely 

 to hang up than small ones. In ground yarding there is special 

 advantage in large timber because it is ordinarily not practical to 

 handle as many logs at a trip as with the overhead, or even with 

 the high-lead method. Under certain conditions, particularly with 

 the overhead and high-lead methods, the effect of small timber on 

 the output may be to some extent offset by cutting long logs. Of 

 course, with fast machinery and relatively larger crews, the yarding 

 output in small timber can be made to approach that in large. 



(4) Yarding distance. — The general principle is clear and in- 

 dubitable that the longer the distance over which timber must be 

 comveyed, the less will be the output. It is not directly in propor- 



