LOGGING IN" THE DOUGLAS FIE, REGION. 61 
(1) Methods. — As will be shown later, each of the different 
methods is adapted to specific sets of conditions. As a practical 
logging question, however, it is not always clear which method 
should be employed. For example, one operator may be securing 
as good results with the ground method as another operator is se- 
curing with the high-lead or overhead method, under practically the 
same conditions. In some cases, the use of the best method may be 
out of the question because a. machine adapted for it is not at hand, 
and the amount of timber to be moved does not justify the purchase 
of new equipment. 
(2) Yarding direction as it relates to the slope of the ground. — 
With any method the yarding output is largest on level ground, or 
on ground sloping moderately toward the yarding engine. The 
drawback to yarding logs downhill with a ground method is that as 
soon as gravity carries the low forward faster than the haul-in or 
main line is traveling, the tendency is for the log or logs to run out 
of their chokers or to run behind stumps or debris on the side oppo- 
site to that on which the line is leading. As a general thing the out- 
put with a ground method is from 30 to 50 per cent higher when 
the logs are moved uphill than when they are moved downhill ; as- 
suming, of course, that the ground in question is steep enough in 
places to cause the logs to run when being yarded downhill, and that 
the equipment is powerful enough to handle the logs uphill with 
dispatch. Overhead yarding methods, taking them straight through, 
work better downhill than uphill. In fact, this method is especially 
adapted for yarding logs down long, steep slopes. 
(3) Size of timber. — With the same conditions and within certain 
limits, the yarding output is less and the load that can be yarded at 
one trip is less in small timber than in large. A certain amount of 
time is consumed in making a yarding trip regardless of the number 
of logs or the volume of timber hauled, since in any event approxi- 
mately the same amount of time is lost in hooking up, starting, un- 
hooking, and returning the trip line to the woods. Logs of large 
diameter, assuming that the motive power is ample, are less likely 
to hang up' than small ones. In ground yarding there is special 
advantage in large timber because it is ordinarily not practical to 
handle as many logs at a trip as with the overhead, or even with 
the high-lead method. Under certain conditions, particularly with 
the overhead and high-lead methods, the effect of small timber on 
the output may be to some extent offset by cutting long logs. Of 
course, with fast machinery and relatively larger crews, the yarding 
output in small timber can be made to approach that in large. 
(4) Yarding distance. — The general principle is clear and in- 
dubitable that the longer the distance over which timber must be 
conveyed, the less will be the output. It is not directly in propor- 
