CHAPTER IV 
SAWYER’S PEAK 
WE moved on the following day to the top of the 
range. Our first camp was on the east side of Saw- 
yer’s Peak, a well-known local landmark. And 
whereas at Kingston the elevation was 6,300, at camp 
we made the altitude just 9,300 feet above sea level. 
While the baseline was being brought up a couple 
of days were devoted to ‘‘sample plots.’? An area 
(usually ten chains square) was measured off on 
the ground with chain and compass, the diameter of 
each tree thereon calipered, the timber in feet board 
measure estimated from approved volume tables, the 
reproduction tallied, and notes on miscellaneous 
silvical data of interest recorded. 
These sample acres, a welcome respite to the 
cruiser, were afterward taken at intervals through- 
out the season. The work was valuable not only for 
the collection of silvical facts, but for the purpose of 
checking the figures of individual estimators. By 
comparing the appearance of the stand on such plots 
with that found on his run a cruiser possessed a 
standard for sizing up timber which tended ‘to 
greatly increase the accuracy of his estimates. Hs- 
pecially was this experience worth while to those of 
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