TIMBER STORAGE IN THE EASTERN AND SOUTHERN STATES. 19 
ing upward, being 1 foot square at the top, which gives a good bear- 
ing surface for the horizontal wooden skids or for the vertical posts 
where it is necessary to elevate the skids to a height consistent with 
the height of the tramways. 
A concrete mixture of 1-2-}— 5 is used, at a cost for labor and ma- 
terial of $5 per cubic yard, or an average cost of about $5 per pier. 
The foundations follow the slightly varying, contour of the ground. 
To compensate for the more marked differences in soil elevation 
the skid timbers are frequently blocked up to an approximately level 
condition by the use of short sections of pine posts treated at the 
ends with a tar or 
cresote preparation. 
There are two ad- 
vantages in casting 
the piers in two 
pieces: (1) The re- 
duction in weight of 
the individual blocks 
when it becomes nec- 
essary to shift them 
about the yard, and 
(2) the greater ease 
of alignment when 
erecting the skids. 
All the skids are 
well off the ground 
at heights never less 
than 18 to 24 inches 
and frequently 36 
inches and over. The 
lumber is not piled 
directly on the wooden skid timbers, but rests on a 1-inch pine strip, 
usually about 3 inches wide, to give a smaller bearing surface. This 
method is not uncommonly employed in various yards. It is of 
distinct advantage where lumber is piled on infected skids, and if the 
dry strips are freshly laid for each pile they materially assist in 
reducing infections in the base of the stack. 
In direct contrast to these concrete foundations with ample venti- 
lation beneath, one frequently meets with the type illustrated in 
figure 21. The one figured is built of 2-inch pecky cypress planks 
about 14 feet long, resting directly on the ground. The amount of 
lumber used was computed for one of the squares and totaled ap- 
proximately 585 feet b. m. While pecky cypress is often used in the 
South for foundations of this type, in many other cases either non- 
Fig. 16. — Thoroughly rotted pine skids in a mill yard in 
Texas. Such decayed foundation timbers are very com- 
mon. Fungous infection can pass directly from these 
timbers to the lumber piled on them. Creosote would 
have prevented this condition. 
