2 BULLETIN 87, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



This increased usage will simply be the logical result of conditions. 

 The removal of timber by flumes from many localities is to-day the 

 only economical method. There are a great many localities where 

 timber is at present being taken out at a loss, but where, if an up-to- 

 date flume had been built at the inception of the lumbering opera- 

 tion, instead of starting with the methods at present used, much 

 more satisfactory results would have been shown. 



FORMS OF LUMBER TRANSPORTED BY FLUMES. 



The different forms in which lumber or timber is generally trans- 

 ported by flumes at the present time are as follows : 



(1) In logs. 



(2) In piling, mining ' 'stulls," or long timbers. 



(3) In railroad crossties. 



(4) In "cants" or split-log form. 



(5) In lumber "loose" boards or planks. 



(6) In lumber "brailed" or clamped together. 



(7) In cordwood or pulpwood. 



There is hardly any limit to the forms in which lumber may be 

 transported in flumes, provided it is of a species that will float and 

 the flume is constructed with due regard for the material to be handled. 

 The logging conditions, species and character of material to be 

 handled, amount of water available for fluming purposes, etc., all 

 have a very direct bearing on the form of flume and the methods 

 used in construction. Thus, in a locality where the supply of water 

 is ample and there is no necessity for husbanding it, a type of flume 

 might be used which in another locality where there was a scarcity or 

 lack of water might be very undesirable. 



The very important feature of water supply has, in fact, had much 

 to do in determining the type of flume that is being used in different 

 localities; since where water is plentiful and there is no particular 

 need of being economical in its use, a square or box-like flume of almost 

 any size will do for either logs or lumber, while in other localities it 

 has been found absolutely necessary, on account of the small volume 

 of water available or for other reasons, to use a type of flume which, 

 with approximately one-half the volume of water necessary in the 

 square or box type of flume, will handle practically the same class of 

 material. Thus it is quite common in the Appalachian Mountain 

 region to see box or square sided flumes in use, while in the moun- 

 tainous western portions of the United States the square-box flume 

 is rarely seen, and the V-shaped flume is the one in general use. 

 Necessity, therefore, has in the past and undoubtedly will in the 

 future be the principal factor in deciding what type of flume shall be 

 constructed. 



