66 BULLETIN 711, U, S. DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTURE. 



LOCATION OF YARDING ENGINE SETTING. 



The location of the landing or yarding engine setting may be de- 

 termined by the hook tender, the camp foreman, or jointly by the 

 camp foreman and superintendent. In certain cases the hook tender 

 may shift the settings made by the foreman or superintendent. 

 Where this is permitted, the hook tender is held responsible for any 

 reduction in the output because of an improper setting. In many 

 cases the settings are selected by either the superintendent or fore- 

 man, the exigencies of the situation making a conference impractical. 

 AVhere possible, the superintendent and foreman together should 

 make 'the selections. 



There are logging superintendents and foremen who feel that their 

 success in securing large yarding outputs is largely due to the fact 

 that they exercise the utmost care in blocking out yarding chances 

 and locating settings. When ground conditions permit, the best 

 settings are selected and the railroad is then located in relation to 

 them, instead of the railroad being located first and the chance taken 

 that satisfactory settings can be found along it. In other words, 

 what should be the best railroad location from the standpoint of 

 cheapness of construction and operation would not necessarily be 

 the best location from the standpoint of the total cost of the com- 

 bined yarding and railroad hauls. Cases can be found where the 

 cost of a piece of spur railroad was excessive because of a location 

 of this kind, the more expensive location being made seemingly for 

 the purpose of securing the best yarding setting, which in turn en- 

 abled the yarding crew to get at least the standard output expected 

 of them. Of course, aside from this, an}'' additional output result- 

 ing from special railroad construction had the effect of decreasing 

 the cost per thousand feet of succeeding steps in the logging opera- 

 tion. 



A^Tiere logs are yarded direct to a railroad, the settings, in addition 

 to being where the largest average yarding output can be secured, 

 should be where the logs can be loaded to the cars with dispatch. 



MOVING GROUND YARDING ENGINES. 



The time lost in moving engines reduces the actual yarding time, 

 and any saving in time in making the engine moves has the effect 

 of increasing the yarding output. It generally takes from 5 to 10 

 hours to move a logging engine from one setting to another, de- 

 pending for the most part on whether it is transported on a flat car 

 or dragged over the ground. In one camp the average time, when 

 based on an operating period of six months, amounted to nine hours. 

 The work included moving the engines, raising gin poles for load- 



