LOGGING IN" THE DOUGLAS FIE REGION". 
35 
side and then to saw on a slant, taking as much wood as possible on 
the convex side. 
STUMP HEIGHTS. 
Frazier Curtis, writing on stump heights in 1900, implies that 
the height of stumps in this region at that time ranged from 3 to 
Fig. 6. — Swamping ax. 
Fig. 7. — Bucking wedge. 
5 feet, but that in times past it was customary to cut much higher 
stumps, some of them running as high as 20 feet. He speaks of one 
160-acre tract where 2,000,000 feet of sound material had been left 
in high stumps. 
The practice at the present time is to reduce the height of stumps 
to the lowest point practicable. The fact that most companies 
practice long butting rather than cut high stumps in ques- 
tionable timber, which means an extra cut, indicates that they prefer 
to err on the side of labor rather than wood waste. Not all com- 
panies are so careful, since operations can be found where the 
stumps are higher than strict economy seems to require. 
As to the average height of the stumps cut in this region, it is 
difficult to generalize. Taking it straight through, they probably 
range between 3 and 5 feet. Small, second-growth Douglas fir 
stumps are cut as low as 2 feet. Old hemlock stumps are frequently 
cut at seemingly wasteful heights, especially when the company does 
not follow the practice of long butting. It is not unusual to see 
old- growth cedar cut higher than 5 feet from the ground. 
The stump heights on timber sales in the national forests of the 
region are a little lower than those in private cuttings of a like 
character. The clause relating to stump heights in a contract deal- 
ing with a recent sale of a body of timber in the Olympic National 
Forest reads: 
Stumps will be cut so as to cause the least possible waste, and not higher 
than 24 inches on the side adjacent to the highest ground, except in unusual 
cases, when, in the discretion of the forest officer in charge, this height is not 
considered practical. 
LOG LENGTHS. 
Douglas fir is well adapted to the manufacture of long timbers, 
and supplies a large share of the demand for such material. This 
