LOGGING IN THE DOUGLAS FIR REGION. 189 
The equipment used with a power scraper consists of a logging 
engine, lines, blocks, etc. The cost and maintenance of the equipment, 
also the depreciation that should be written off annually, are dis- 
cussed under " Ground yarding." In a general way this work is 
harder on equipment than ordinary yarding, since the percentage 
of time that the equipment is actually in use is larger. Several 
scrapers are used, the size and cost in March, 1916, of one of the 
best being as follows : 
Size. Cost. 
4 yards $400 
5 yards 450 
6 yards 500 
Comparatively few of the operators use a steam shovel. A lj-yard 
dipper steam shovel suitable for heavy work costs about $8,000 at 
Portland or Seattle. A smaller one with a J-yard shovel costs about 
$5,600 at these points. 
It has not been deemed advisable or practicable to enter into a 
lengthy discussion of the methods and cost of grading. Informa- 
tion of this kind is difficult to secure. It is easy to find out the 
amount of money expended by a logging operator for labor in 
railroad construction, but it is usually impossible to get it classified 
into the cost of clearing right of way, grading, etc., in connection 
with the total length of line built, the total amount of earth moved, 
a classification of material moved, etc. 
The cost of grading, obviously, varies greatly. In places, for short 
stretches, it can be done for as little as $10 per station (100 feet). 
In other places it costs $20, $30, $40, $60, or more per station. Taking 
it straight through the country the cost of grading the spur rail- 
roads probably ranges between $30 and $50 per station. For ex- 
ample, the cost of grading 13,350 feet in one case, with pick and 
*shovel, amounted to $6,664, which is at the rate of about $2,630 per 
mile. This does not include the cost of clearing the right of way, 
which was cleared for $997 per mile. It was a scratch grade for the 
most part, there being no heavy cuts or fills. The average cost of 
clearing right of way and grading 25 miles of track in another case 
during 1910, 1911, and 1912 was $2,300 per mile. The cost per 
station ranged between $28 and $64, the average being $44. These 
figures do not include the cost of trestle construction. During this 
time, seven miles of rather heavy sidehill grade was constructed. 
There was little rock, and no heavy cuts or fills. The work was done 
by contract, the operator paying $40 per station when the cuts and 
fills did not exceed 3 feet in depth. It was all done by the pick-and- 
shovel method. Another operator working in moderately rough 
ground has cleared and graded the right of way for spur tracks for 
