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



COST OF CONSTRUCTION. 



The cost of constructing flumes will also vary a great deal with the 

 conditions existing in the locality, the cost of lumber, cost of nails, 

 and price of labor. In localities where it is possible to get a boiler, 

 engine, and mill to the upper end of a proposed flume line cheaply 

 and without being compelled to go to the expense of constructing a 

 costly road, where there is plenty of timber easily accessible to the 

 mill, which can be cheaply manufactured into lumber for purposes of 

 construction, with low-priced labor, a flume can be constructed much 

 more economically than in a locality where all these conditions were 

 just the contrary. Rough lumber suitable for the construction of a 

 flume can ordinarily be cut and fitted for construction work at a price 

 varying from $7.50 to $10 for manufacture alone, exclusive of stump- 

 age value. 



So much depends upon the locality in which a flume is to be con- 

 structed, the price of labor, and the facilities for getting the necessary 

 construction material cheaply, that it is impracticable to attempt any 

 very close estimate on the total cost of any flume until all of the sur- 

 rounding conditions are thoroughly understood . But in general, under 

 favorable conditions, with a basis of $2.25 per diem for common labor 

 and from $3.50 to $4 per diem for carpenters, not including board, 

 suitably prepared lumber should be built into a flume for about $7.50 

 per thousand. This would be about the minimum figure, and the 

 cost would be liable to range upward from this price to $12 or higher, 

 according to the conditions and prices of labor. 



The cost of the construction of the Bear Canyon flume in Montana, 

 a 26-inch V 10 miles long, was approximately $2,000 per mile. The 

 lumber cost $8.50 per thousand to manufacture and fit it for con- 

 struction purposes, and it required about 100,000 feet b. m. to the 

 mile. The labor cost $800 per mile, and $350 per mile was expended 

 for nails, iron for trusses, and for cost of surveying. This flume was 

 constructed a number of years ago when the cost of material and 

 labor was less than it is to-day. 



A flume constructed from Dayton to Woodrock along the Tongue 

 River, in the Bighorn National Forest, Wyo., is said to have cost 

 approximately $3,500 per mile, in round figures, the cost of different 

 sections varying from $2,500 to $7,500 per mile. This was a 30-inch 

 V flume. There was considerable rock work on this line; Granite 

 Canyon had to be passed through, where in some localities the flume 

 was practically pinned to the sides of the canyon walls; there were 

 several rock tunnels to be made through projecting points; and there 

 were necessarily some very high trestles to be constructed. Another 

 difficult feature of the construction of this flume was that of build- 



