10 



But foremen had to be vastly sharpened up in their ideas about 

 their duties. Many of the older men had been practically undisturbed 

 in their sphere for years and had fallen into the habit of visiting 

 their crews about once a day and spending the rest of the time, if 

 they felt like it, in camp. For a new man to bring about a change 

 in this matter was, of course, delicate work. The best weapon at 

 hand was thorough inspection, which meant going over the work 

 regularly and thoroughly, taking note of every item of waste, watch- 

 ing for stuff left standing that was likely to blow down, showing the 

 man on the spot just where his work failed from the ideal, and leaving 

 in the camp a written report — a duplicate of which was sent to the 

 office — of just what was found. There was sometimes a surprisingly 

 quick and sti iking result from this system. 



LOCATION OF ROADS. 



A factor which had much to do with the cutting of the timber was 

 the location of the roads. When these had once been spotted out it 

 was determined what was to be cut, and, if a thinking man located 

 them, he could be of good service keeping them away from bunches of 

 young timber. The spotting of yarding roads, therefore, was taken 

 away from the choppers, whenever possible, and given to the fore- 

 man. The old system of road running was also modified. As few 

 roads as possible were to be employed, so a greater number of branch 

 roads were run, in modification of the old parallel system. 



MARKING AND FELLING. 



Marking the timber to be cut ahead of the operations was, after a 

 fair trial, found to be ineffective and unsatisfactory. The foremen 

 would take no interest in it themselves, and nothing else made the old 

 loggers so angry or so destroyed their interest in their work. Further, 

 it was .found that in the company's timber and under the existing 

 conditions, marking could hardly be done to advantage ahead of the 

 operations, especially in advance of the location of the roads. The 

 wind question, for one thing, was too fine a one. A man could not 

 tell how the resulting stand was going to look until it was actually 

 opened up. 



Moreover, with an active, interested foreman, one who understood 

 what was wanted in the way of cutting, marking the timber was not 

 essential to secure a very fair result. A foreman who was with his 

 crews several times a day could get just about such trees cut as he 

 wanted, and in that way, also, he could see how the cutting looked as 

 it went along. An inspection of each road before the choppers left it 

 was a regular feature of the foreman's duties. If any defective trees 

 had been left, or any that he thought would blow down, it was not 

 too late to get them out. 



[Cir. 131] 



