SMALL SAWMILLS, THEIR EQUIPMENT, ETC. 45 
SKIDDING. 
Skid or dray roads are not supposed to receive as much attention 
in construction as main logging roads. Nevertheless, they should be 
kept reasonably clear and should be laid out with considerable care. 
On steep hillsides it is sometimes feasible to build bench roads along 
the face of the hill. The logs are skidded to the nearest bench and 
then rolled by hand to the next bench, and so on down to the base of 
the hill, where the trucks can handle them to the landing. In some 
cases where the power (oxen or horses) is available and the distance 
to the mill is not over half a mile logging ■" from the stump" can 
be done to advantage. 
Use a dray or go-devil to skid the logs out to the main road. 
Skidding logs by chain, except on a downhill haul, or on level, smooth 
ground, is waste of time. A team can haul three logs on a dray over 
rough ground with less effort than it takes to haul one log by tongs 
or a chain. 
When a tree is cut into logs in the woods, the skidding teamster 
should place his dray alongside the end log with a short skid resting 
on the dray, set his swamp hook low clown on the far side of the log, 
hitch his whiffletrees to the swamp-hook chain, start up his team, 
and roll the log onto the bunk of the dray. If the log is a big one, 
it should be peeled on the side which drags on the ground. If your 
team can haul more than one log, fasten the first log on the dray and 
move up to the next and repeat the same operation. If the tree has 
fallen in a position difficult to load easily, hitch on the block and line 
and boost the log out to where it can be handled. Do not make your 
team pull a log on the chains or tongs out of a pothole or from 
between two rocks or stumps simply for the satisfaction of seeing 
them do it. Get the log out in the easiest and quickest way possible 
and spare the team and rigging. 
When loading logs on the skidway, place the ends which will come 
on the front of the load even. This can be done very easily when 
filling the skidway, but not so easily with the skidway full. " Eoss- 
ing," or peeling the bark off logs, particularly large ones, will make 
skidding easier and prevent insect attack. "Snipping" the forward 
end is also resorted to, but a log so large and heavy that the front 
end digs into the ground when being hauled on a chain or tongs 
should be loaded on a dray. 
Logs on a travois or dray should be balanced on the bunk of the 
dray in such a manner that approximately two-thirds of the weight 
of the load is behind the bunk. Logs will haul easier when the 
heaviest end drags on the ground. They should be so balanced that 
if the runners should strike on a rock, the dray will partially lift 
