28 



PRACTICAL POEESTEY. 



When the lumber has been sawed it may be piled and seasoned in 

 the yard or kUn-dried before it is sent to market or sold at the mill. 

 Some sawmills on Puget Sound are buUt on piles over the water, so 



ST' , 













Fig. 18.— Lumber flume in the mountains. California. 



that the lumber is loaded into vessels directly from the saws. Others 



load their product on the cars and distribute it by rail. Still others 



on the Pacific slope float their timber away in a narrow wooden 



trough called a "flume," through which 



flows a rapid stream of water. These 



flumes are sometimes over 40 miles in 



length, and cost almost as much to 



build as a railroad. Many sawmills 



have connected with them planing 



mills or woodworking factories of other 



kinds, so that the rough lumber from 



their saws is changed into the form of 



a finished product before it reaches the 



market. 



Waste in lumbering. — This is very 

 briefly the way in which a tree gets 

 into the market at the end of its life. 

 At every step there is some waste. Although it may be sound 

 throughout, the lumbermen in the woods can take but a portion of 

 it, often leaviQg a part of the tnink and all of the top to rot on the 



358 



I J Boards 



Fig. 19.- 



Saw.kar4» ^^SUb* i^Uflnfa 



Diagram to show the sawing 

 of a log. 



