208 REPORT OF THE FORESTRY COMMITTEE 



logging, and usually some form of report is made and a map of some character 

 submitted. In many instances these cruises were made at the time of purchase 

 and have not been checked since then. 



The reports prepared by the cruisers were usually conservative as to the 

 stand of timber, and the maps were little more than sketches showing the ap- 

 proximate location of the main streams, dividing ridges, and other important to- 

 pographic features. Boundary surveys may or may not have been made, accord- 

 ing to the need for them. Crude data of the above character seems to have been 

 sufficient for the loggers in many parts of the southern and eastern section of the 

 United States. In the South the practice in preliminary examination has, in most 

 instances, not advanced greatly during the last two decades. The practice still 

 prevails of allowing certain woods employes to carry valuable information re- 

 garding the timberlands in their heads, instead of having it on paper in the office. 



On the Pacific Coast, where the timber is large, the topography rugged, and 

 the logging is often difficult, the logger has often been forced to more exact 

 methods, and it is in this section that, as a rule, we find the work of planning the 

 logging operation is best developed. Even here, however, as pointed out in Mar- 

 tin's report, there are still many who cling to rough methods. 



There are several factors which would tend to increase efficiency in logging 

 operations which come under the head of "Planning the Operation." The broad 

 outlines of the work only are stated, since the details and methods would vary 

 .with every operation. The preparation of maps, preferably topographic, on 

 which are shown the holdings of the company or individual; the distribution of 

 the stands of timber, both by species and quantity; location of streams, ridges, 

 roads, trails, tentative camp sites, and other similar works ; location of main log- 

 ging roads and dams, and the division of the area into logging units, etc., is es- 

 sential. 



The field work necessary to secure data to prepare the map and the degree of 

 accuracy required will be governed by the character of the country and the pur- 

 pose for which the map is to be used. Where the topographic map is to be used 

 as a basis for road or railroad location and the estimation of costs of logging, the 

 field work should be accurately done, especially in a rough region. In the flat 

 pineries of the South, however, less accurate field work for topographic mapping 

 is permissible. 



Clark, a member of the committee, states that "in general there has been very 

 little intelligent planning in advance of logging on the British Columbia coast. 

 This has been due to the fact that most of the logging, up to the present, has been 

 confined to areas immediately adjacent to tidewater, and 'rule-of-thumb' methods 

 were practicable, and the need of more careful planning was not evident to the 

 average logger. Within the last few years some larger operations, involving the 

 building of railroad, have been opened, but in most cases the planning of the 

 road location has been in the hands of a civil engineer, who had little knowledge 

 of what the road was expected to perform." 



Cruising Reports.— Accompanymg the topographic map there should be a re- 

 port containing an estimate and classification of the timber on the area, provided 



