26 BULLETIN" 13, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
Logging Costs. 
Most of the second-growth pine is sawed by portable mills of 10,000 
or 15,000 board-feet capacity. These can be moved cheaply from 
place to place, and a stand of 100,000 board feet usually warrants a 
set-up. The different parts of the lumbering operation vary some- 
what in cost, but in New England, with a 9-hour day, would average 
about as follows per thousand board feet: 
Cutting $1. 25 
.Skidding 2. 25 
Sawing and piling at mill 3. 25 
Insurance at the rate of 1^ per cent per year, or at a less rate for 
portions of a year, and interest on the logging investment, add to the 
cost about 25 cents per thousand board feet, and raise the average 
total cost, exclusive of hauling, to about $7 per thousand. This 
figure is used in deriving the succeeding tables for stump age values 
and profit and loss. The cost would tend to be greater for small and 
less for large timber. Usually the lumber is air-dried at the .mill for 
from 3 to 6 months after being sawed. Cutting is ordinarily done 
in the winter, sawing in the early spring, and hauling in August, 
after the haying season, when teams are available. 
On level roads in average condition a good team can haul from 
1,500 to 2,200 (average 1,800) board feet of air-seasoned 2§-inch 
white-pine lumber to the wagonload. In many localities a distance 
from market of from 5 to 11 miles is considered a "one turn" haul. 
For shorter distances the tendency is to increase the loads and rest 
the horses oftener, while for long hauls the load might be reduced 
to 1,200 or 1,300 board feet. A single-horse wagonload usually con- 
tains from 700 to 900 board feet. 
Hauling from the mill to the market is usually done under contract 
at either so much per day or at so much per thousand board feet. 
It is the most variable of the logging costs, since it depends upon the 
length of the haul, the character of the roads and topography, the 
wages paid for team and driver, and the amount of lumber that can 
be hauled at one load. It is, therefore, convenient to determine the 
cost of hauling in terms of the amount of lumber that can be hauled 
per day at a given wage rate. Five dollars per day is perhaps the 
most common rate for team and teamster throughout the northeast. 1 
This rate is used in Table 9, which shows the cost of hauling and the 
total cost of logging for different amounts of lumber hauled per day 
by each team. 
1 The influence of different wage rates from $4 to $5.50 on the cost of logging and the stumpage value is 
discussed in Forest Service Bulletin 96, pages 20-29. 
