SMALL SAWMILLS, THEIE EQUIPMENT, ETC. 45 



SKIDDING. 



Skid or dray roads are not supposed to receive as much attention 

 in construction as main logging roads. Nevertheless, they should be 

 kept reasonably clear and should be laid out with considerable care. 

 On steep hillsides it is sometimes feasible to build benth roads along 

 the face of the hill. The logs are skidded to the nearest bench and 

 then rolled by hand to the next bench, and so on down to the base of 

 the hill, where the trucks can handle them to the landing. In some 

 cases where the power (oxen or horses) is available and the distance 

 to the mill is not over half a mile logging " from the stump " can 

 be done to advantage. 



Use a dray or go-devil to skid the logs out to the main road. 

 Skidding logs b}^ chain, except on a downhill haul, or on level, smooth 

 ground, is waste of time. A team can haul three logs on a dray over 

 rough ground with less effort than it takes to haul one log by tongs 

 or a chain. 



When a tree is cut into logs in the woods, the skidding teamster 

 should place his dray alongside the end log with a short skid resting 

 on the dray, set his swamp hook low down on the far side of the log, 

 hitch his whiffle trees to the swamp -hook chain, start up his team, 

 and roll the log onto the bunk of the dray. If the log is a big one, 

 it should be peeled on the side which drags on the ground. If your 

 team can haul more than one log, fasten the first log on the dray and 

 move up to the next and repeat the same operation. If the tree has 

 fallen in a position difficult to load easily, hitch on the block and line 

 and boost the log out to where it can be handled. Do not make your 

 team pull a log on the chains or tongs out of a pothole or from 

 between two rocks or stumps simply for the satisfaction of seeing 

 them do it. Get the log out in the easiest and quickest way possible 

 and spare the team and rigging. 



When loading logs on the skidway, place the ends which will come 

 on the front of the load even. This can be done very easily when 

 filling the skidway, but not so easily with the skidway full. " Ross- 

 ing," or peeling the bark off logs, particularly large ones, will make 

 skidding easier and prevent insect attack. "Snipping" the forward 

 end is also resorted to, but a log so large and heavy that the front 

 end digs into the ground when being hauled on a chain or tongs 

 should be loaded on a dray. 



Logs on a travois or dray should be balanced on the bunk of the 

 dray in such a manner that approximately two-thirds of the weight 

 of the load is behind the bunk. Logs will haul easier when the 

 heaviest end drags on the ground. They should be so balanced that 

 if the runners should strike on a rock, the dray will partially lift 



