132 THE BOOK OF FORESTRY 
from tree to tree and the logs are carried suspended 
from a wheel which travels upon this cable. 
Sawing the Logs.—When the logs finally reach the mill 
they are stored in a millpond if water is available, for 
water storage is desirable with practically every species 
which floats. These millponds may be from two to three 
acres in extent and will hold a large number of logs. 
From the storage pond they are hauled up an inclined 
plane by means of an endless chain equipped with teeth 
called the ‘‘bull chain.’? When the log reaches the top 
of the plane it is rolled from the trough in which 
the chain runs to the deck, a sloping floor pitched 
toward the track upon which the saw carriage runs. 
A marvelous place is the interior of a sawmill, one 
that stimulates so many senses that the effect, to say 
nothing of the noise, is bewildering. As previously 
stated the modern sawmill is the pride of the American 
lumberman, and its skillful arrangement is a tribute to 
his ingenuity. From the door in which the log enters 
from the outside its course proceeds in a straight line 
until it reaches the grading table ready to be graded, 
sorted, and stacked. The light inside is rather dim but 
after a minute or two we can make out the arrange- 
ment of the mill and understand the various operations. 
As the log pokes its end into the door from the mill- 
pond a man with a slim hickory stick upon which 
figures are burned rushes forward to measure the log 
at the small end. He is the scaler and after measuring 
the diameter of the log he reads its contents in board 
feet from the hickory stick (log rule or scale stick) 
having estimated the length by eye. This he records in 
a book, as the owner wishes to know how much timber 
has been cut in the woods and how much the sawyers 
should saw out. 
