96 
BULLETIN 711, U. S. DEPAETMEXT OF AGEICULTUBE. 
some extent in the same camp with the character of the chance : or 
the size of the timber, roughness and steepness of the ground, length 
of haul, amount of down timber, etc. When labor is scarce and hard 
to handle, operators not infrequently find it desirable to carry extra 
help in the rigging crew in order to provide for sudden vacancies. 
The basis of employment and payment of labor in this region is a 
10-hour day. with a charge for board. Hook tenders are sometimes 
paid by the months 
During certain years, or parts of years, wages are higher than in 
others. At a given time some camps pay 8 to 10 per cent more per 
clay per man than others. In some camps some of the men. because 
of special fitness or length of service, receive a larger compensation 
than others for the same class of work. For these reasons it is diffi- 
cult to give the average wages paid the different members of the 
yarding crew. 
The following list is intended to approximate the wages — average, 
high, and low — paid the labor working in ground yarding crews 
by the logging companies in the region during the past six years : 
Approximate wages of ground yarding crews. 
Position. 
Hooktenders . . . 
Rigging slingers 
Choker men 
Chasers 
Swampers 
snipers 
Signalman 
Engineer 
Fireman 
Wood buck 
The wages given in the column headed " Low '■ are not the lowest 
wages that have been paid. Camps that have paid the wages included 
in the column headed "Average " paid the following wages in Octo- 
ber, 1915 : 
Per day. 
Hook tenders- $3. 50 
Rigging slingers 2. 75 
Choker men 2.50 
Chasers 2. 50 
Swampers : 2. 25 
Snipers 2. 25 
Signalman 2. 00 
Engineer 3. 00 
Fireman 2. 00 
Wood buck 2. 25 
