46 BULLETIN 718, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.. 



and slide over the obstruction. If the load rests wholl}^ on the bnnk 

 and runners, the team will be unable to lift the load. 



In addition to the main binding chain, on the end of which there 

 is usually a round hook, a skiddino- teamster should always be pro- 

 vided with a grab or fit hook with which to keep his load snug and 

 to take up slack when necessary. 



Snags and stumps should be removed or cut low along a skid road. 

 AVindfalls and loose rocks should be thrown out of the road, and 

 chuck holes filled up. Never try to haul or skid logs over a swamp or 

 bog unless it is frozen hard enough to carry teams ; build a corduro}^ 

 road. If water is available, the skidding teams should be fed in the 

 timber. Build a brush shelter equipped with feed boxes and keep a 

 few days' supply of hay and grain stored there. Eemove the harness 

 while the horses are feeding. Never, if it can be avoided, throw grain 

 on the ground for teams to eat. Have fly nets for the liDrses in warm 

 weather and keep the horses shod. 



Skidding equipment consists of good harness, whiffletrees and trace 

 chains, logging chain, cold shuts, tongs, swamp hook, cant hooks, ax, 

 ''" Sampson,'' travois or dray, skids, block and line. A jacklvuife 

 dray, with a 3-foot bunk spiked and fitted with bunk chains, is pre- 

 ferred. This dray is so constructed that if it strikes any obstruction 

 it will "jackknife," or partially fold. There should be spike skids 

 for decking on the skidways . when teams are not available. Both 

 smooth and spiked skids should be shod w^ith iron on one end to 

 prevent slipping. When teams are not available and the logs are 

 small (10 per 1,000 feet), two men can load ("spike") logs onto a 

 truck or " deck '' ; but when large logs are being handled a gin pole 

 and loading line (parbuckle) is necessary. If the men are inexpe- 

 rienced in the use of cant hooks, as is usually the case in small opera- 

 tions, a crotch loading line is preferable, because one end of the log- 

 can not slide ahead when rolling up the skid, as it is likely to do in a 

 single line, particularly if the log is larger at one end than at the 

 other. Several small logs can be " sent up " in a crotch line at one 

 trip, but not so easily in a single line. 



SKIDWAYS. 



A skidway should be centrally located and the approach so graded 

 or so gradual as to avoid an uphill haul. The end of the skids should 

 be blocked or preferably bridged apart, so that the team will have 

 fii'm footing when crossing the skids. The front end or head blocks 

 should, if possible, be high enough to make it possible, when the 

 skids rest on them, to roll on the first tier of logs by hand. The 

 skids should have a slight slope toward the front. The ground 

 alongside the skidway should be cleared of brush, so that the longest 

 log will not catch on the ends. It is not worth while to build a skid- 



