LUMBERING IN PINE REGION OF CALIFORNIA. 95 
One manager is required for a double-band mill producting about 20 
million annually. The manager at a single-band mill operating one 
shift frequently directly superintends both woods and mill. A pro- 
portionate decrease is made in the office force in each instance. 
SUMMARY. 
To sum up: the cost of selling, general office work, and superin- 
tendance at band mill or large circular mill operations is normally 
from 55 to 70 cents per 1,000, and the total of overhead charges is 
from $1.25 to $1.40 per 1,000. 
At small circular mills, superintendence, office work, and selling 
are covered by the salary of the operator. Such mills are commonly 
one-man concerns; and since the owner devotes all his time to the 
operation he should have a salary as well as a profit on the investment. 
A mill of 20,000 daily output markets about 3,000,000 feet per annum. 
At a salary of $1,200 for the operator the cost of superintendence is 
40 cents per 1,000. 
DEPRECIATION. 
All improvements and equipment used in lumbering depreciate 
in value, and sufficient money must be taken from the business during 
its course to form a sinking fund to cover this depreciation. The 
amount of depreciation is measured by the difference between the 
initial cost and the salvage or residual value at the end of the opera- 
tion. The common method of figuring depreciation against a body 
of timber is to determine the total depreciation involved in its 
exploitation and by prorating this total over the stand to obtain a 
figure per 1,000 feet. The depreciation per 1,000 may then be 
applied to the annual cut to determine how large an annual sinking 
fund is necessary. 
Railroads and sawmills which can be used for additional timber 
have a residual value at the end of the operation much greater than 
the salvage value. Railroads adapted to a continuous profitable 
common carrier business may have a residual value practically as 
large as the initial cost. Improvements and equipment which 
can not be used any further have only a salvage or wrecking value. 
Tools, cables, and similar equipment are worn out and must be 
replaced at frequent intervals, so that they rarely have even a 
wrecking value. Horse and donkey chutes have no salvage value, 
except when the material can be utilized as saw logs or made into 
railroad ties. 
The wrecking value of logging railroads which can not be used in 
place for other purposes is the sale value of the rails for relaying. 
The rails commonly have a life of from 15 to 20 years; the former 
where they are lifted and relaid every season, and the latter for more 
