CLEARING LAND IN THE LAKE STATES. 23 



Table XIV. — Cost of labor and material used in clearing tract No. HO. 





Days em- 

 ployed. 



Cost. 



Item. 



Per 

 diem. 



Total. 



Stumping and piling: 



60 

 00 



bo 



$1.75 

 1.75 



1.25 



$105.00 





105.00 



1 horse 



75.00 









285.00 



Dynamite (40 per cent strength), 50 pounds, at 20 cents 







10.00 









.75 



Burning stumps and completing clearing: 



18 



18 



1.75 

 4.25 



31.50 





76.50 







Total 



403. 75 









22.43 













This swamp clearing is typical of the cost of clearing much of the 

 severely burned swamp land of Cheboygan and Presque Isle Coun- 

 ties, Mich. 



DISPOSAL OF STUMPS AFTER PULLING. 



Where medium-sized stumps have been well blasted the problem 

 of stump disposal is relatively simple. It is considered cheaper to 

 start several small, conveniently located fires in the holes made by 

 blasting the stumps and then haul the remaining pieces to these fires 

 than it is to build a few large piles and not set them on fire until all 

 the stumps are piled. Where the stumps have been pulled by a 

 stump puller without the use of powder the problem of disposal is 

 more difficult. The general opinion throughout this region is that 

 the cost of disposal practically equals the expense of pulling. All 

 data secured seem to verify the accuracy of this estimate. In the 

 early days of clearing, the stumps were hauled into rows to serve as 

 fences. At the present time very few such fences are being built. 

 The usual contract price for hauling stumps into fences is 15 to 18 

 cents each. 



PILING STUMPS. 



Large stumps are very hard to pile. Some owners split the stumps 

 by the use of a small charge of dynamite placed either in a hole bored 

 into the base of the stump or in a notch chopped between two promi- 

 nent roots. Often the heart of the stump is sufficiently decayed so 

 that the charge may be placed in it. A small quantity of dynamite 

 used in this manner will usually split the stump as well as a much 

 larger charge would have done before the stump was pulled. 



By using a tripod, such as is shown in figure 10, with legs 40 or 

 45 feet long and equipped with a double block and 150 feet of half- 

 inch cable, the stumps can be piled 25 or 30 feet high. This tripod 

 was used on tract No. 13. Another good method of piling is to use 



