

GRADES OF LUMBER OBTAINED. 43 
LUMBERING IN THE SOUTHWEST. 
Since there are seldom more than 2 to 4 million board feet of 
western yellow pine in a section, the modern steam logging of the 
Northwest is inadvisable in the Southwest. The usual method is to 
skid the logs to the hauling road, load them on the trucks, or, if the 
eround is fairly level, onto big wheels, and then haul them to the 
railroad or mill. If the operation is a large one and the railroad is 
in use, the logs are loaded onto the cars with a steam loader and rail- 
roaded to the mill. In one operation on the Coconino Forest, where 
the stand often runs from 4 to 44 million feet to the section, a steam 
skidder is used, one of two in the Southwest. However, since most 
of the logging is by horses, an intensive system of forest management 
is possible. 
Ordinarily a tree is cut into sawlogs up to a diameter of from 
6 to 10 inches in Government sales, and from 10 to 14 inches in pri- 
vate holdings. In Government operations the top logs are occasion- 
ally cut into stulls, hewed into ties, or rarely split into shakes; but 
crdinarily the top cut is sawed into rough dimension timbers or ties. 
On account of the open character of the stand, very little damage is 
done to young growth or standing timber through lumbering. 
The large companies use the latest band-saw equipment, and cut 
from 60,000 to 150.000 feet a day. Very close utilization of the 
product is secured, since they maintain box factories and manu- 
facture laths, ties, and small dimension stuff. 
The estimated cost of logging and milling over easy ground in the 
Southwest is: 



Crom skidding -and hauling to railroad. —_+- 2-2-5255 Lee $35 
Mennienanee oferallroad.including ties, steel, ete=2__=_- »—— -_= = _ . 50 
moaardinevandehawlns to mill or railroad point_-_——_____-__=_____- 1. 00 
Milling, including depreciation of plant and piling______________________ 4. 00 
CEASE, GUUS OOS OVS eo aa Ae eg St . 40 
“SSD G Gey 2 ee a eee Bod oh oe te ee 3. 00 
RoOLalacost <oOLatinisned product. on yards2—__—- = ee By es 
As a rule the cost of logs in the mill, including the average Gov- 
ernment stumpage rate, is between $8 and $9 a thousand board feet. 
GRADES OF YELLOW PINE LUMBER OBTAINED. 
The percentage of different grades of lumber cut from yellow pine 
varies, of course, with the locality. Table 23 gives average percent- 
ages of the different cuts which were furnished by prominent lumber- 
men of the region. 

