LUMBERING IN PINE REGION OF CALIFORNIA. 51 
logging roads. Steam shovels may also be put to good use in loading 
gravel for ballast. A 1^-yard dipper steam shovel suitable for heavy 
work costs $8,060 at San Francisco. A smaller revolving shovel with 
a seven-eighth-yard dipper costs $5,640. 
Solid rock and loose rock that can not be loosened with a pick must 
be broken up by blasting before excavation. Hand drills are used 
in making the required shot holes. These holes are loaded with sticks 
of high-grade giant powder, costing 11 or 12 cents per pound, and the 
charges exploded by caps and fuse. Soft rock and decomposed 
granite are often blasted more effectively by loading burrows with 
large quantities of low-grade powder, such as is used for removing 
stumps. 
Average costs may be calculated by classifying the material to be 
moved. Light earthwork on spurs and in smooth regions can 
usually be done at an average cost of from 15 to 25 cents per cubic 
yard in place. Heavier dirt work will average from 30 to 40 cents 
per yard. Ordinary earthwork with a moderate amount of soft 
rock averages from 40 to 50 cents per yard. The cost of grading 
with a normal amount of rock ordinarily averages from 50 to 60 
cents per yard. Most of the logging roads on' the west slope of the 
Sierras are graded at this average cost. Soft rock requires an 
expenditure of about 75 cents per yard and removing solid rock 
costs $1 or more per yard. 
The easiest grading occurs in the flat sugar and yellow pine stands 
of the northeastern part of the State, where the average cost for 
standard-gauge spurs is often about $800 per mile. Some miles are 
graded for as low as $200 or $300. The next cheapest work is in the 
yellow pine of the eastern Sierras, where, in moderately rolling 
regions, the average cost is from $900 to $1,000 per mile. For the 
easier grading in moderately rough regions on the west side of the 
Sierras, where about from 50 to 70 yards are removed per station, 
the cost is from $1,500 to $2,000 per mile. The average cost in this 
part of the region for fairly rough localities is from $3,000 to $4,000 
per mile. The steeper and rougher regions necessitate an average 
grading cost of from $5,000 to $5,500, and on some lines the cost may 
be as high as $7,000 per mile. An unusually large amount of rock- 
work runs the cost of some miles up to $12,000. For most of the 
sugar pine stands the average cost of grading main lines and spurs is 
betweeen $3,500 and $5,000 per mile. The cost of grading a narrow- 
gauge roadbed is from 10 to 20 per cent less than a standard gauge. 
For temporary lines it is frequently cheaper to construct cribbings 
or trestles than fills. Cribbings are used in shallow depressions, and 
consist of large logs laid at right angles to the track 12 feet apart 
from center to center, Two other logs are laid lengthwise on these 
for stringers. The cost for an average height of from 4 J to 5 feet is 
