62 FOREST CONDITIONS IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA. 



boards can be taken out of even the largest logs; lumber is usually 

 less damaged and is, therefore, more salable. Lumbermen claim that 

 an average saving of 10 per cent of the timber is affected by using a 

 band mill. Moreover, because these mills are on railroad lines or on 

 private spurs connected with the railroad, the lower grades of lumber, 

 which with the portable mills are either wasted or sold at a low price 

 for local use, can be readily disposed of. Yet the large stationery mill 

 has one disadvantage as compared with the smaller mills, a probable 

 higher cost of logging, because of a longer haul to mill which necessi- 

 tates a costly logging railroad. The cost of such roads must be charged 

 against every thousand feet of lumber. To reduce the cost per thousand 

 some operators use material that is too small or too defective to be 

 manufactured with profit. Hence, immature trees, especially of the 

 more valuable species, such as poplar, ash, and linn, are cut and manu- 

 factured, though they have less value than they would have as standing 

 trees with the chance to develop to good merchantable size, not count- 

 ing at all their protective value to steep easily-eroded hillsides. 



PORTABLE MILLS. 



Kather more than 78 per cent of the lumber is sawed by small port- 

 able mills. There are about 300 such mills in the 16 western counties, 

 with an average annual production for each mill of about 350,000 feet. 

 These mills are usually owned and operated by men who own no tim- 

 ber land and either buy enough for a short run or else cut the timber 

 for the owner, charging $3 or $4 per thousand for sawing. In some 

 cases, however, one man owns several of these small mills, and cuts 

 wherever timber can be purchased. These have made more uniform 

 profits than other lumbermen in the region. The average cost to mills 

 is from $3 to $5 a thousand for cutting and logging, and from $3 to $4 

 for sawing. 



The cost of hauling lumber to the railroad varies according to dis- 

 tances, road conditions, and kind of lumber, but averages about 40 

 cents per mile per thousand feet. Except for hauling, lumber can be 

 sawed cheaper than by the large stationary mills, but the difference is 

 somewhat balanced by the fact that the large mills generally load their 

 stuff directly on the cars. 



A combination of the band and the portable mills will probably be 

 found to work to greater advantage, both to the operator and the forest, 

 than either of them does alone. In many parts of the country portable 

 band mills are being used to great advantage, the value of the lumber 

 being increased while the cost of logging is decreased. The profitable 

 use of portable mills requires good roads. The construction and main- 



