LOGGING IN THE DOUGLAS FIR REGION. 109 
Until quite recently wood has been the common fuel for logging 
engines. It was close at hand, was seemingly cheap, easy on the 
flues, and gave sufficient steam. With the modern, high-speed, pow- 
erful logging engine, even with an enlarged fire box, it did not prove 
so satisfactory, and, with the advent of equipment that made the use 
of oil a practical matter, it began to give way to fuel oil. 
The amount of wood consumed in a logging engine in a day de- 
pends on the amount of work done and the character of the wood, 
and varies considerably. This is also true of the cost, although it 
does not vary to such an extent, since certain costs are comparatively 
fixed. Regardless of the amount of wood consumed, a fireman and 
wood buck are needed at each yarding engine. One operator logging 
in large Douglas fir and using sound fir — most of it large — for fuel, 
kept a record and found that 1,650 feet of timber was consumed by 
each yarding engine per day. He was working the engines hard. 
This same operator estimated that it cost $18.13 per day to supply 
steam for a yarding engine working under ordinary conditions when 
using wood, on the basis of the following assumptions : 
Average daily wood consumption, 1,650 feet. 
Average stumpage value, $3 per 1,000 feet. 
Average logging cost, $4 per 1,000 feet. 
Additional logging cost for wood logs, $0.50 per 1,000 feet. 
One fireman, $3 per day. 
One wood buck, $2.75 per day. 
Another operator estimated the fuel cost per yarding engine, per 
day, when using wood, at from $14 to $18. 
In some camps, cull logs are utilized as fuel. Where this is the 
case, it would not be proper to include an item for stumpage in esti- 
mating the cost of fuel. Most camps, however, find it necessary to 
use sound logs because there is not a sufficient number of cull logs, 
or because the desired head of steam can not be held when certain 
classes of cull logs are used. 
Several advantages are claimed for oil as fuel in logging engines. 
One is that it practically eliminates the fire hazard. Burning oil 
gives off few sparks, so that the danger always present in the dry 
season with wood or coal burning engines belching forth a cloud of 
fire-distributing sparks, is practically done away with. Under most 
conditions oil is cheaper. It is further claimed that the output per 
engine is from 15 to 25 per cent higher. This would be particularly 
true where large logs are moved uphill rather long distances. Until 
quite recently, however, loggers, as a class, have felt that oil was 
harder on the flues than wood, and there evidently were grounds for 
this belief. Through improvements in the burners, certain changes 
in the engines, devices for cleaning the flues, etc., this objectionable 
feature has seemingly been entirely or practically overcome, since 
