218 REPORT OP THE FORESTRY COMMITTEE 



Where power logging is used the spurs may be located on the higher levels, 

 since logs can be pulled up hill as readily as down; the cables foul less, because 

 on down-hill pulls the logs are apt to run and catch against logs, stumps and 

 other obstructions, and further a better bottom can also usually be secured for 

 the railroad track. 



In animal logging the spurs are located at distances of from 1,300 feet to 

 one-half mile apart. The latter is regarded as the maximum for efficient work, 

 except for small isolated tracts to which the logger is not warranted in con- 

 structing a railroad. 



Spurs for logging with power should be located approximately parallel to 

 each other, when topography permits, and the distance between them should 

 not exceed 1,800 or 2,000 feet, since a distance of from 800 to 1,000 feet is 

 the maximum efficient working radius. 



Railroad construction. — The clearing of main-line logging railroad rights- 

 of-way is usually done by contract on the acre basis, sometimes with an addi- 

 tional payment for merchantable timber which is felled and cut into logs. 

 Rights-of-way for spurs are frequently cut by day labor although contract work" 

 is also common. 



In some sections it is the practice to cut the right-of-way and build the 

 grade some months or even a year in advance of logging in order to give the 

 roadbed a chance to settle before the steel is laid. Other reasons also may in- 

 fluence- the early construction of the grade. 



Where the timber cut from the roadbed can not be brought to the mill, 

 because of absence of transportation facilities, before the summer season com- 

 mences the logs become badly infested with insects which render the sapwood 

 of little value. This loss can be largely, if not entirely, eliminated by peeling the 

 logs about March 1. The insects which do the most damage will not work in 

 peeled timber. Peeling may be done with an ax and a bark peeling spud; a 

 stiff-bladed shovel works well if the bark has loosened slightly. The estimated 

 cost per thousand board feet for peeling does not exceed 75 cents, and the value 

 of timber is increased several dollars per thousand over what it would be worth 

 if left unpeeled. The logs if left throughout the summer may become somewhat 

 checked on the exterior but the loss will be far less than where insects attack 

 them. 



The grades for main line logging railroads are usually constructed by con- 

 fractors using drag scrapers and other simple equipment. 



A log loader converted into a steam shovel is sometimes used in making 

 heavy cuts. Equipment of this character is usually provided by the operator. 



A lumberman in Mississippi uses dynamite for making shallow cuts in gumbo 

 soil. The cost is said to be 50 per cent less than when the earth is handled with 

 drag scrapers. 



As a rule, the- steel is laid by hand labor. Both contract and day labor 

 prevail. Within recent years two forms of track laying machines have been 

 devised which, however, have not been widely introduced. 



One type adapted for conditions where there are a minimum of curves on 



