LUMBERING IN PINE REGION OF CALIFORNIA. 49 
Construction. — The first step in railroad construction, following 
the final survey, is the clearing of the right of way by felling all trees 
and cutting out all brush and reproduction. The usual clearing crew 
is two men, who, under ordinary conditions, clear from 1 to 1| miles 
of narrow-gauge right of way per month. Saws and axes are used 
for felling and swamping, and after the trees are felled the butt logs 
are bucked off and rolled outside the right of way with jackscrews. 
In ordinary sugar and yellow pine stands the cost of clearing the 
right of way ranges from $40 to $45 per acre. The average width of 
clearing for a narrow-gauge road is from 20 feet for flat country to 30 
feet in broken country. The former is about 2\ acres per mile and 
the latter about 3f . Under like conditions the clearing for a standard- 
gauge road may be 5 or 10 feet wider. The cost for a narrow-gauge 
right of way is ordinarily from $100 to $160 per mile, and for a 
standard-gauge from $125 to $200 per mile. 
Before grading is commenced all stumps which will interfere with 
excavation for the roadbed must be removed. This is usually done 
by blasting with 5 per cent blasting powder. An iron bar is driven 
under each stump and a small piece of giant powder exploded at the 
bottom of the hole. The cavity thus formed is loaded with blasting 
powder, and the explosion of this charge blows out the stump. 
Average loads are one-fourth box (12 J pounds) for a 12 to 16 inch 
stump, 1 box for a 30 to 36 inch stump, and from 2 to 2\ boxes for a 
60-inch stump. Yellow pine is the most difficult to blast out and 
sugar pine and incense cedar the easiest in about the ratio of \\ 
boxes for a 30-inch yellow pine to three-fourths box for a 30-inch 
incense cedar. 
Blasting powder comes in 50-pound boxes, which cost from $3.25 
to $3.75 each delivered on the works. Counting in a man's labor for 
from one to two hours, caps, a stick and a half of giant powder, and 
the necessary fuse, the cost of removing a 36-inch pine stump is from 
$4 to $5. The cost of blasting stumps per mile varies with the 
species, number, and size of the stumps. In normal sugar and yellow 
pine stands it averages from $200 to $250 per mile, respectively, for 
narrow and standard gauge. Some miles run as high as $400 each. 
When the stumps have been removed the right of way is ready 
for the grading of the roadbed. The width of the roadbed varies 
from 11 to 12 feet for narrow gauge and from 13 to 14 feet for standard 
gauge. Sidehill cuts are commonly made in such a manner that two- 
thirds of the width of the roadbed is a solid cut and the remainder 
a fill. In most cuts the sides are sloped at one-half to one, which is 
the equivalent of a horizontal distance of 6 inches to a vertical dis- 
tance of 1 foot. In very soft soil it may be necessary to use a slope 
57172°— Bull. 440—17 4 
