20 BULLETIN 440, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
concrete example of what may be done under favorable conditions 
is shown by an operation skidding from 300 to 400 feet into chutes. 
The daily output is 40,000 feet; and the logs are medium sized sugar 
and yellow pine, many so large that one side must be peeled. The 
crew consists of two men sniping and peeling logs, two men swamping, 
two men with a two-horse rolling team each, and two men with a six- 
horse skidding team each. The slopes are favorable and the smaller 
logs are dogged together in trails of two or three. At going wages the 
cost is about SI. 10 per 1,000. 
Maintenance.— The principal cost of keeping up a horse skidding 
operation is depreciation on the horses. The upkeep of tools and 
other equipment is very light, not in any case more than 4 or 5 cents 
per 1,000. 
BIG-WHEEL YARDING. 
Logging to railroad spurs by big wheels is the same operation as 
is commonly designated in the Lake States and the South as logging 
with high-wheel carts. Ideal conditions are offered by short hauls, 
smooth surfaces, absence of underbrush and debris, flat land or 
gentle slopes, and moderate sized timber. In most of the California 
pine region the slope is too steep, but the big wheels are used on the 
east slope and in many places on the west slope of the Sierras. They 
are used most extensively in the Mount Shasta region. 
Ordinarily, no road construction is necessary in big- wheel yarding; 
but a small amount is required at points where some obstacle makes 
it necessary to haul to a landing contourwise of the slope or on flats 
thickly strewn with lava rock, which must be cleared out of the main 
roads in case of long hauls. The landings are two 6-inch poles placed 
parallel and at right angles to a loading spur, with a slight excava- 
tion between the poles. The construction of one might require the 
time of one man for one-half day. Slip-tongue big wheels require 
no landings. 
Equipment. — There are two types of big wheels in use. One is the 
stiff-tongue or Michigan logging wheel. The size used under most 
conditions has wheels 10 feet in diameter, a 6-foot tread, and 6-inch 
tires. Where the ground is not too soft a 4-foot log may be straddled. 
The axle is wooden; and the tongue, which is a small pole fastened 
rigidly to the axle, is about 16 feet long. The cost is $135 each f. o. b. 
the factory in Michigan, which would represent about $200 delivered. 
TWelve-foot wheels, with arched iron axles, designed for large timber, 
are manufactured locally in California. The cost is about $250 
f. o. b. factory. The other style of big wheel is the so-called slip- 
tongue, designed for steeper ground and longer hauls. The variety 
in use here has 10-foot wheels, 6-inch tires, a 6J-foot tread, and a 
30-foot tongue. The weight fully equipped is 3,600 pounds, and the 
price, f . o. b. the California factory, is $350. 
